Bone Graft Recovery
Preserving your jawbone after a tooth is gone. Here’s what the healing process looks like.
The Full Guide
After a tooth is lost or removed, the jawbone underneath can shrink over time, like a house settling once a support beam is gone. A bone graft places graft material into the area to preserve or rebuild bone volume, either to protect the ridge after an extraction or to build up enough bone to support a future implant.
Graft material may come from your own bone, a donor, an animal source, or a synthetic substitute, depending on your case.
Without something in that socket, the surrounding bone naturally shrinks over the following months, which can make a future implant harder to place well, or leave a visibly sunken area along your jaw. Grafting now preserves that bone volume while you decide how you want to replace the tooth, keeping your options open rather than closed off.
When it's done at the same visit as an extraction (specifically to stop that socket from collapsing before any implant decision is made), it's sometimes called socket preservation.
Weighing whether to graft after an extraction, or thinking ahead to a future implant? Book a consultation and we'll walk through your options.
Eat a normal meal beforehand, since you'll be numb for a few hours afterward (if this is combined with an extraction, follow that procedure's before-appointment guidance instead). Local anesthetic numbs the area, which is often done immediately following an extraction. For upper teeth, numbness is usually limited to the cheek, lip, and gum near the tooth. Lower back teeth typically require a "block" injection, which numbs an entire side of the lower jaw, including the lip, chin, and often the tongue, not just the tooth being worked on. Graft material is placed into the socket or defect, and a collagen membrane is often placed over it to hold everything in position, sometimes with small sutures. You'll be numb for a few hours afterward, with mild swelling and bruising over the next couple of days being common.
Swelling typically peaks and begins to resolve. Avoid touching, poking with your tongue, or rinsing vigorously. You don't want to disturb the graft material before it has a chance to integrate. It's normal for small, sand-like particles of graft material to work loose and be felt on your tongue or between your teeth in the first few days. This doesn't mean the graft failed.
Soft diet, avoiding chewing directly on the site. Continued gentle salt water rinses, starting day 2, help keep the area clean without disturbing it.
Soft-tissue healing over the graft takes about 1–2 weeks; the graft gradually integrates with your existing bone underneath. A slow process, often taking 3–6 months before it's ready to support an implant if that's the eventual plan.
Avoid smoking. It significantly impairs blood flow and graft healing, more so than with almost any other dental procedure.
you notice graft material visibly coming out, increasing pain or swelling after day 3, or signs of infection like fever, pus, or a foul taste.
A note on this guide: this is general guidance. Your treating doctor's specific instructions for your individual case always take priority over anything written here. If something feels off or you're unsure, call us. Don't wait it out.
Oral surgery & extraction care
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