Dr.Gina ...., the Smile Artist !!!
With Dr.Gina's artistic senses, you will be smiling with new confidence.
We are focused on Cosmetic Dentistry including Orthodontic Braces, Invisalign & Invisible braces,Veneers & Lumineers, Dental Implants and Teeth whitening. We strive to deliver the highest level of dental technology in order to help our patients to achieve the smiles they have been desiring.
We are conveniently located in the center of the city, in Yongsan / Itaewon area, right next to Yongsan US. Military base ( 2 min walk from Base Gate 13 / Visitor's Gate ) and a few steps to Subway Ichon station(Line 4, station #430).
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The success of dental implants depends on whether there is a sufficient volume of healthy bone at the recipient site at the time of implant placement. After tooth extraction, the alveolar ridge will commonly decrease in volume and change morphologically. If bone resorption is significant enough, then placement of an implant may become extremely challenging.
Recent advances in bone grafting materials and techniques allow us to place implants in sites that were considered compromised in the past.
Bone graft
Today, we have the ability to grow bone where needed. This not only gives us the opportunity to place implants of proper length and width, it also gives us a chance to restore functionality and aesthetic appearance.
The graft material can be either an autograft (your own bone), an allograft (bone from other human beings; disease free immune frees), a xenograft (from other species), an alloplast (Synthetic bone), or combination thereof.
Your own bone is taken from the jaw, hip or tibia (below the knee). Special membranes may be utilized to protect the bone graft and encourage bone regeneration.
Bone preservation after tooth extraction
Tooth extraction sockets normally heal without any significant difficulties. However, bone naturally grows into the socket and reduces in height and width during healing process. Bone resorption is most often a concern in areas where the amount of bone was minimal before extraction or in the esthetic zone since soft tissue contours follow hard tissue contours. The eventual shrinkage of alveolar bone results in lost bone contour and poor esthetics.Thus, preserving the existing bone during tooth removal is critical to ensure successful osseointegration of dental implants.
Atraumatic Tooth Removal
Avoiding bone loss during extraction can help preserve alveolar bone. It may eliminate the need for bone graft later.
The anterior maxillary area is at particular risk because the bone plates are thin and subject to trauma during extraction. Some situations make tooth removal extremely difficult, including the brittle root canal treated teeth, the severely dilacerated teeth, and the fractured tooth with little coronal portion to grasp. However, proper instrumentation and technique will allow for the best possible result.
Socket preservation
The extraction socket can heal uneventfully if the surrounding bone is thick, tooth removal has been atraumatic. However, extraction is always followed by bone resoprtion and bone will be lost in height and width. This resorption process will continue for the rest of a patient’s life unless either a bone graft or dental implant is placed.
Researchers report that filling the socket with a
bone graft along with a barrier membrane immediately after extraction significantly reduces the amount of bone resoprtion.
A barrier membrane excludes the epithelial cells that invade the socket during healing process and thereby keeps as much space to be filled with bone as possible.
The use of a bone graft alone results in some preservation of alveolar height and width but less than with a barrier membrane.
The use of a barrier membrane plus a bone replacement graft has been shown to be superior to a bone graft or barrier membrane alone.
Sinus Lift
The maxillary sinuses are behind your cheeks and on top of the upper teeth. These are air-filled spaces that everyone has. Often the roots of the natural upper teeth extend up into the maxillary sinuses. With age and tooth loss, the upper jawbone shrinks and the sinus enlarges. When these upper teeth are removed, there is often just a thin wall of bone separating the maxillary sinus and the mouth. This often makes a patient a poor implant candidate. Dental implants need bone to hold them in place. In order to increase bone height, the base of sinus is elevated and filled with bone graft material. And it’s called a sinus lift.
Crestal Approach
The sinus is entered from the alveolar ridge( where teeth existed). A pilot hole is created through the bone reaching 1-2 mm short from the sinus floor and the hole is expanded to the size of implant to be placed. With an ostetome or a water balloon, the thin, left-over sinus floor wall is fractured. Then the sinus membrane is raised, bone grafting materials are filled, and implants are placed. This technique is rather simple and less invasive than the lateral window approach.
Lateral Window Approach
The lateral wall of the sinus is exposed. A bony window is created. The sinus membrane is then gently lifted upward and bone graft material is inserted into the floor of the sinus.
If enough bone is available between the upper jaw ridge and the bottom of the sinus to stabilize the implants well, implants can be placed at the same time.
If not enough bone is available, the graft will have to mature for several months. Once the bone becomes part of the patient’s jaw, then dental implants can be inserted and stabilized in this new sinus bone.
Alveolar Ridge Expansion
This is a technique used to restore the width of lost bone when the jaw ridge gets too thin to place conventional implants. In this procedure, the bony ridge of the jaw is literally expanded by mechanical means. Bone graft material is placed and implants can be placed at the same time or wait until the graft matures for a few months before placing the implant.
Vertical Ridge Augmentation
It is a procedure to improve the height of the alveolar ridge.
Block bone grafts are harvested from the symphysis or the ramus and grafted onto the site where implants to be placed. After several months of maturation, dental implants are placed into this newly brown bone. This technique can be used for predictable bone augmentation up to 3- 6 mm in horizontal and vertical dimensions.
Another way to increase bone height is placing implants into their final position first. The implant should stick out of the bone with a few mm of threads exposed. Then, fill the area with particulate grafts to the height of the implant surfaces. And cover the entire site with a stiff barrier membrane that can keep the shape of newly augmented bone throughout the maturation period.
