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Alternatives to your own bone for graftingFor those who would prefer an easier, but slightly slower solution, there are other sources of bone specially prepared to make them safe for use in humans. All of these materials including your own bone, simply provide a scaffold into which new bone will grow and consolidate ready to receive dental implants a few months later. New bone can take anything from 3 to 12 months before it is ready to receive dental implants. Do not be in a hurry to move to the next stage. If you need a large volume of bone it will take longer to mature than a small amount. Guided tissue regeneration - Each surgeon will have his or her preferred way of creating new bone. Many of them will also use a supplementary technique called ‘guided tissue regeneration’. Using this technique slow moving bone cells are given time to fill a space by placing a barrier material between them and the fast moving cells of the soft tissues lining the mouth. When this technique was originally developed the barrier material had to be removed during a separate surgical stage a few months later. Whilst these original materials are still in use, it is now more common to use a ‘resorbable barrier’ that will disappear naturally a few months after it has done its work.
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