If you’ve had a tooth injury and your dentist has determined that it’s necessary to replace one or more tooth roots, then you will want to know what to expect with dental implant surgery. What type of sedation is used, what exactly happens, what is a bone graft, and how long it takes are common questions raised by patients who are about to undergo the dental implant procedure.
Types of Sedation in Dental Implant Surgery
This type of procedure is sometimes done under general anesthesia, but that will be determined by your oral surgeon. In order of amount of sedation, the options are:
- General Anesthesia
- Moderate sedation with IV drip
- oral sedation
- local anasthesia
There are risks involved with general anesthesia but some oral surgeons prefer the predictability of the outcome when the patient is fully sedated. Dental implant surgery is, after all, surgery on the bone. The American Dental Association says either local or general anesthesia can be used.
What is Bone Grafting and Will I Need It?
One of the biggest questions about dental implant surgery, after the type of sedation required, is about bone grafting. Not everyone undergoing the dental implant procedure will have to have bone grafting. Only those patients whose jawbone is too soft or too thin will have to have bone taken from another place in the body and grafted onto the jawbone. The bone graft will help support your dental implant so you can chew properly when the implant procedure is completed.
A bone graft will be taken from another place in your jaw, or if that’s not an option it will be taken from your hip or your lower leg (the tibia). This part of the dental implant procedure will take at least six months to heal.
How Long Does it Take to Completely Heal From Dental Implant Surgery?
So, if you’re having a bone graft, total time for your dental implant surgery, including healing, can be fifteen months. That’s six to nine months for the bone graft to heal and another six months for the dental implant to heal.
