Create a Solid Foundation for Your Implant Restorations
With an uptick in general dentists adding implant treatment to their roster of services, it’s no surprise that the materials needed to encourage bone growth and create a solid foundation for a successful implant restoration have stepped up, too.
Alloplastic grafts, while not new to dentistry, are becoming more widely used by both dentists and implantologists—in part because of their high compatibility with patients’ own bone. Not only do synthetic bone-grafting materials limit rejection and the risk of transmitting disease pathogens, but they offer ideal hardness, osteoconduction, and a more predictable biological response when implanted.
Dr. Yusuke Hamada, a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Periodontology at Indiana University School of Dentistry, uses Sunstar’s GUIDOR easy-graft CLASSIC to treat intraoral and maxillofacial osseous defects prior to implant treatment.
“GUIDOR easy-graft is a purely synthetic material, so there's no chance of disease transmission when we use it as a graft material,” he said. “Some patients prefer not to have animal- or cadaver-derived materials placed in their mouths, so this can be a good alternative for them.”
Removing the Guesswork
Dr. Hamada also appreciates that the material can be syringed directly into a bone defect, as well as its convenient unit-dose application that eliminates the need to guess which liquid with which to mix the granules with. Each unit of GUIDOR easy-graft includes a syringe of coated granules and an ampule of BioLinker, which softens the polymer coating and creates a sticky surface that can be easily molded to match the defect shape.
“When granules from other bone-grafting solutions need to be hydrated in saline, it can make the material difficult to shape in the socket,” said Dr. Hamada. “The ability to mix the easy-graft granules with BioLinker and place them directly into the socket makes the GUIDOR system extremely easy to use, saves time, and simplifies the entire bone-grafting procedure.”
Case in Point
Dr. Hamada recently shared a patient case with DPS where he placed an implant on a fractured and non-restorable tooth No. 9—using GUIDOR easy-graft CLASSIC to contour the buccal bone shape and increase the success and longevity of the restoration.