Do Mini Dental Implants Require Bone Grafting

You may have heard that dental implants require a bone graft and want to know whether that applies to you. In this video, Dr. Regan Ackerman explains why mini implants often need less bone and when grafting may still be recommended.

Is bone grafting required for the mini dental implant? So I would say, if you’ve already had the tooth removed and it’s been healed for about 2 to 3 months and you come in for the consultation, I’m going to take a 3D x-ray, and usually at that point, you don’t need any other bone grafting, and I’ll be able to tell you if you’re a candidate or not. If you need a tooth removed, usually I can tell you if you’re going to have to have bone grafting or not. I’d say the majority of the time, you do not need bone grafting for the mini dental implant. That’s kind of the beauty of the mini dental implant.

Now, it is a case-by-case basis, because there are certain situations where I can just see there’s no bone around that tooth. So I may recommend at the time of extraction to have bone grafting placed just to ensure that we’re going to have enough bone after the healing process for the mini implant. It’s just kind of an insurance policy. But the majority of the time, I would say no, you don’t have to have bone grafting because the mini implant is a smaller diameter implant.

I don’t have to have as much bone, but I’m not going to say never because everybody’s different and it’s a case-by-case basis.

If you’re interested in learning more about bone grafting for mini dental implants, we invite you to schedule a free consultation with Dr. Regan Ackerman at Freedom Dental Implants in Louisville, Kentucky. We look forward to giving you the freedom to smile.