After a tooth has been missing for some time, the jaw ridge narrows from the outside in. An implant needs to be surrounded by bone on all sides, so a knife-edged ridge cannot support one safely. Lateral ridge augmentation grafts additional bone onto the side of the ridge to rebuild that width.
When it is needed
It is recommended when a 3D scan shows insufficient ridge width for the planned implant diameter, typically where teeth were lost years earlier, where an extraction was not grafted at the time, or after trauma or infection destroyed part of the bony wall. Placing an implant into inadequate width risks exposing threads, poor aesthetics and long-term failure, so building the site first is the conservative choice.
What to expect
Under local anaesthetic, with sedation if you prefer, your dentist at Parkway Dental lifts the gum to expose the ridge. Graft material is applied to the deficient side — this may be particulate graft held with a membrane, a block graft fixed with small screws, or a titanium mesh or reinforced membrane maintaining the space. The gum is then released so it can be closed over the graft without tension and sutured.
Tension-free closure matters: if the gum pulls apart over a graft, the graft can become contaminated and fail.
Healing
Expect more swelling and bruising than a simple extraction, peaking around day two or three. Pain relief, cold compresses, and often antibiotics and an antimicrobial rinse are prescribed.
Do not brush the surgical site until advised, and avoid any pressure on the area. If you wear a removable denture over the site, it will usually need to be left out or adjusted — pressing a denture onto a fresh graft is a common cause of failure.
Grafts mature over roughly six to nine months before an implant can be placed. Smoking substantially reduces the success rate of bone grafting.