You lost a tooth a while back. Maybe it was a few years ago. Maybe it’s been a decade. You figured you’d deal with it later. Then later turned into later, and now you’re wondering: Did I wait too long for a dental implant? Probably not.
At Oral Facial Surgery of Delaware, Dr. Campbell and Dr. Rafetto place dental implants for patients who’ve been missing teeth for months, years, or even decades. The process might take a few extra steps. But you haven’t missed your chance.
What Happens to the Jawbone After Tooth Loss
Your tooth’s root does more than just hold the tooth in place. Every time you chew, the root stimulates your jawbone. That stimulation tells your body, “Keep this bone strong and healthy.” When a tooth goes missing, that stimulation stops. Your body figures you don’t need that section of bone anymore. So it starts reabsorbing the bone tissue. Dentists call this bone resorption.
In the first year after tooth loss, you can lose 25% of the bone width. Over several years, the bone continues to shrink. That’s why a gap left too long can start to look like a dent in your gumline. But bone loss doesn’t mean game over. It just means we need a different game plan.
Bone Grafting: Building a New Foundation
Think of your jawbone like the foundation of a house. If the foundation has eroded, you wouldn’t build a house on top of it. Same goes for an implant.
For patients who’ve been missing a tooth for a long time, we usually start with a bone graft. This is a minor procedure where we add bone material to the weakened area. That material could come from a donor source or a synthetic substitute. (We rarely need to take bone from another part of your body.)
The graft acts as a scaffold. Over the next four to six months, your body replaces that material with your own natural bone. You could end up with a jawbone that’s strong enough to support an implant for the rest of your life.
What About a Sinus Lift?
If you’re missing an upper back tooth (a molar or premolar), there’s an extra step we sometimes need to take. The maxillary sinuses sit right above those upper back teeth roots. When those teeth are lost, the sinus can expand downward into the empty space, leaving very little bone for an implant.
A sinus lift adds bone between your jaw and the sinus floor. It sounds intense, but it’s a routine procedure that oral surgeons do every day. And like a standard bone graft, it just takes a few months to heal before we place the implant.
The Timeline for a Late Implant
Here’s what your journey might look like:
- Month 1: Bone graft or sinus lift procedure
- Months 2-6: Healing period while new bone forms
- Month 6: Implant placement (a small titanium post goes into the bone)
- Months 7-9: Osseointegration (the bone grows around the implant)
- Month 9: Final crown attached
Yes, it’s longer than placing an implant right after tooth loss. But at the end of that timeline, you could have a permanent, natural-looking tooth that doesn’t come out, doesn’t decay, and helps stop further bone loss.
Don’t Let “Too Late” Stop You
The only time it’s truly too late for an implant is when there’s not enough bone and you’re not willing to do a graft. But most patients are surprised by how straightforward the grafting process actually is. So if you’ve been hiding your smile, chewing on one side, or just living with a gap you thought couldn’t be fixed, give us a call.
Schedule a consultation at our Wilmington office by calling 302-335-6123. We’ll take a quick X-ray, show you exactly what your bone looks like, and walk you through the steps to finally fill that gap.
You waited this long. You don’t have to wait anymore.