When one or more permanent teeth are lost due to extraction, injury or accident, each absent tooth leaves a hole in the jawbone. Although the gums will heal over the hole, the underlying jaw bone will inevitably have high and low points.causing restorations such as dentures to rub against high points, create sore spots, and fit poorly.
Furthermore, over time, the edentulous (toothless) area of the jaw will also lose a significant amount of bone, causing thinning of the top ridge and again making proper denture fit a nightmare. Finally, some people simply have a little extra bone jutting out from the main jawbone, preventing correct denture fitting as well.
In such situations, we use alveoplasty or dental surgery to smooth out uneven areas, flatten and taper overly thin ridges, and prepare the jaw to receive dentures successfully. Not only does alveoplasty ensure a better fit for dentures but it helps control bleeding and improves healing time following multiple extractions, since we actually suture the tooth sockets closed rather than leaving them open to fill with a blood clot as with general single tooth extractions.
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