Normally when you lose teeth, you requiredental implants, crowns, bridges, dentures, or hybrid treatments to restore them. However, occasionally the damage to the surrounding tissue can be so great that these medical interventions are not sufficient to recover your smile.

When this happens, you may require soft tissue ridge augmentation. This procedure uses techniques that eliminate unsightly indentations in your gum line and restore the natural, healthy appearance of your teeth, without making your crowns look excessively long.

What is Soft Tissue Ridge Augmentation?

The Benefits of Soft Tissue Ridge Augmentation

The benefits of soft tissue ridge augmentation are tremendous:

Improved smile: The appearance of your smile can have a significant effect on how you feel. If you have significant bone and gum loss, your bridge might have an unnatural appearance, making you feel self-conscious in social situations. You may also have visible indentations along your gum line, indicating prior oral health problems. Soft tissue ridge augmentation helps to smooth over these cosmetic issues, improving your confidence.

Reduced opportunities for infection: Soft tissue indentations and clefts around a bridge not only make it appear unnatural, but they can also increase the likelihood of infection. Food can get caught in pockets, leading to bacterial buildup and, eventually, decay. Soft-tissue ridge augmentation is a preventative procedure that helps to keep periodontal disease at bay. Applying a graft helps to create a seal between the gum and the bridge, preventing bacteria in the oral cavity from penetrating gingival tissue and infecting the bone.

Keep breath fresh: Tissue ridge depressions can also lead to bad breath. Sometimes, toothbrushes can’t sweep out debris in the cleft, allowing it to build up, leading to foul odors. Ridge augmentation straightens the gum and eliminates these depressions, making it easier to clean.

What to Expect from the Soft Tissue Ridge Augmentation Procedure

Most patients receive soft tissue ridge augmentation procedures as part of restorative dentistry procedures – and that will vary from individual to individual.

Usually, soft tissue ridge augmentation occurs prior to the installation of prosthetics (such as bridges and crowns), but after the installation of implants. The goal is to prepare the gum so that it can accommodate long-term tooth replacements without any further decay or degradation of the surrounding tissue. If you already have implant crowns in place, we will usually remove these to access the gum below.

The procedure begins by applying a local anesthetic to the graft area to minimize discomfort. We then either take gum from another area of the mouth to use as the grafting material or the palate – the roof of the mouth – if there is no suitable donor material elsewhere. We then place the new tissue on the target area using specialist instruments and secure it into place with stitches.

Over time, the grafted tissue assumes the form of the rest of the gumline, producing natural-looking results. The depression in the gum appears minimized, and your mouth is then ready to receive restorative prosthetics.

After the procedure, we will send you home with special care instructions. You may need to limit the type of food and drink you consume, and you should avoid smoking at all costs, as this can interrupt the healing process and cause dental implants to fail.

The good news is that the vast majority of patients experience positive outcomes from soft tissue ridge augmentation, making it one of the most potent cosmetic and medical restorative dental techniques available.

When should you choose Soft Tissue Ridge Augmentation?

Soft tissue ridge augmentation is suitable for the following dental situations:

Tooth loss: When patients lose teeth, it can sometimes cause the surrounding gum to recede, especially for teeth at the front of the mouth. In some cases, patients can also experience bone loss because of injury, dentures, or developmental problems. Soft tissue ridge augmentation takes the body’s own tissue and uses this to restore the area, preparing it for prosthetic tooth replacements. Thus, if you have lost a tooth for any reason, then you should consult with us about the need for soft tissue ridge augmentation. It may help you recover your original smile.

Decay: Decay can also make soft tissue ridge augmentation necessary. While bacteria attack the teeth, they can also cause serious damage to the gum and underlying bone as well, hollowing out oral tissue, and making it appear sunken, especially around bridges. Soft tissue ridge augmentation is ideal for any patient with a history of gum disease and tooth decay, particularly those with chronic periodontal infections.

Gum recession: Both aging and poor oral hygiene habits can lead to gum recession. Over time, receding gums expose the roots of teeth, making them look longer than they should, and increasing the likelihood of infection. Soft tissue ridge augmentation can help here too, restoring the gum line and creating a cordial environment for any necessary tooth replacement procedures.

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