What’s A Connective Tissue Graft?

As an oral surgeon, I want to share with you a question that I often get asked, “What’s a connective tissue graft?” Gosh, the connective tissue graft is probably one of the most misunderstood types of grafts that exist. It’s actually a graft that’s done to try to help improve the gum tissue around the tooth or the gum tissue in an area. It can be done from all sorts of different techniques but the real goal of a connective tissue graft is that the gum tissue around the tooth is actually much tougher, much firmer and it does not move like the gum tissues that are in other parts of your mouth and by having that around an area where we place a dental implant or where you may have a tooth helps minimize the irritation or aggravation of that area. Because without enough gum tissue or connective tissue in the right places it can actually affect the long-term health of the tooth, it can cause us to lose some of the bone that helps support it, and then eventually can cause the loss of that tooth or that dental implant.