What Is Socket Preservation?

Socket preservation or alveolar ridge preservation is a procedure to reduce bone loss after tooth extraction. After tooth extraction, the jaw bone has a natural tendency to become narrow, and lose its original shape because the bone quickly resorbs, resulting in 30–60% loss in bone volume in the first six months.

Why Is Socket Prevention Important?

Each tooth is attached to the jaw bone with an intricate network of bone, soft tissue, nerves, and ligaments. When a tooth other than wisdom tooth is extracted, severe oral conditions can occur if the socket is not preserved. Without implants, the nerves, tissues and bone of the socket can become compromised. The compromised bone of the socket can weaken additional bone tissue of the jaw. If the socket is not preserved after a tooth loss, the surrounding teeth can move into the empty spot causing crooked teeth and a misaligned bite.

How Socket Preservation Helps

The socket preservation procedure is also known as a bone graft. After a tooth is removed, the dentist places extra bone into the socket to preserve its structural integrity and keep the area strong. The extra bone may be from elsewhere in a patient’s body or from an animal. Artificial materials may also be used.

Some of the benefits of socket preservation include:

• It helps to prevent dry socket, a painful condition wherein the blood clot over the extraction site gets knocked out of place.
• It can prevent teeth from drifting out of place.
• It establishes the foundation for future tooth replacement via a dental implant or dentures.

A socket preservation bone graft mainly improves the outcome of restorative solutions like dental implants and bridges. However, it can also have advantages for patients proceeding with dentures. It can also have benefits for patients who choose not to replace their lost tooth. Here is a summary:

Implants – There is a minimum amount of jaw bone surrounding a dental implant for long-term stability and success. Without enough bone, you can have accelerated bone loss and gum recession around an implant over time. A socket preservation bone graft ensures that you will have enough healthy bone to sustain dental implant therapy.

Dental Bridges –  A socket preservation will preserve proper bone height after extraction. Without one, you will experience bone loss and lower gum levels. The space between an opposing tooth and your recessed gums will be abnormally large. This is the space that a bridge tooth will fill. As you can imagine, your bridge tooth will need to be abnormally tall or long to fill this space. You can still make a successful bridge in this scenario, but the cost of extra materials to make an abnormally large bridge tooth is likely to exceed the cost of a socket preservation graft. So, a graft will save you money and improve the aesthetics of your dental bridge.

Dentures – Most dentists do not place socket preservation grafts prior to denture therapy. However, the fit, stability and retention of your denture is directly related to the amount of jaw bone available. I routinely place socket preservation grafts in strategic areas during tooth extraction prior to dentures. The gums heal more predictably and with more jaw bone to enable proper extension of the denture.

No Post-Extraction Tooth Replacement – Even when patients choose not to replace their extracted tooth, a socket preservation graft can still have benefits. Bone loss and gum recession at the extraction site can expose tooth roots on neighbouring teeth. These exposed areas can be very temperature-sensitive. Additionally, a socket preservation graft will preserve more bone at the extraction site to support adjacent teeth. This is especially important in cases where those neighbouring teeth have already sustained bone loss.