Ridge augmentation surgery may involve the use of combinations of any of the following.
What is an Autogenous graft? An autogenous graft material is bone harvested from your own body. It has the most active bone growth potential of all the graft materials but requires a second surgical site and the amount that can be harvested from within your mouth is limited. Because this bone is harvested from your own body there is no potential for disease.
What is an Allograft? An allograft is a graft material that comes from human bone tissue. The bone is harvested from individuals who passed away of natural causes without infectious disease. The tissues are then quarantined and tested again for any sign of infectious disease. Once they have cleared inspection they are then sent for processing. The process involves a series of steps that remove all the bone cells, leaving behind the scaffolding on which bone is made which consists of the minerals and proteins. The bone allograft is then subjected to gamma radiation which ensures complete sterilization. This process has been in use for over 30 years and there has never been one infection.
What is a Xenograft? A Xenograft is tissue harvested from another species. Usually this means that the bone mineral comes from cow. Xenograft tissue is different from allograft tissue in that there are no proteins left after processing. Only the minerals remain. This graft is not as effective as an allograft but is a good space maintainer and the calcium and other bone minerals are a good source of these minerals for the new graft. Because there are no proteins there is little to no risk of infection from this graft material. However, no one can absolutely guarantee this. That said there has never been a case of disease transmittance using these materials.
