Dental implants with bone loss
Quick answer
Can I still have dental implants if I have bone loss?
Usually, yes. When a tooth has been missing for a while, the jawbone shrinks, but bone grafting can rebuild width or height, and a sinus lift creates room in the upper back jaw.
At York House Dental Practice in West Byfleet, implant patients receive a free 3D CBCT scan that shows exactly how much bone is available before anything is committed to. Grafting adds a few months and is shown as a separate line on your written plan.
What you need to know
Bone starts to shrink within months of losing a tooth, because the root is no longer stimulating it. That is why a gap left for years often needs more preparation than one treated soon after an extraction. It is also why we sometimes suggest placing a graft at the time a tooth is removed.
A graft may be placed before the implant, or at the same appointment, depending on how much bone is missing. Healing is typically a few months before the implant can take load. The scan also maps nerves and the sinus floor, so the plan is based on your anatomy rather than a guess.
Where bone is very limited across a whole arch, options such as All-on-4 can angle implants to use the bone that remains. See implant suitability and dental implants in West Byfleet.
Last reviewed: by Dr Kaveet Patel, Principal Dentist
