Indications for bone substitutes in implant surgery

Augmentation of the alveolar crest is often a necessary condition for dental implants in patients with congenital or acquired bone loss. Furthermore, the augmentation can improve the function, esthetic and prognosis of implants and helps to prevent surgical complications. The introduction of short and diameter-reduced implants led to discussion about the necessity of augmentation procedures in recent years. Furthermore, bone substitute materials are routinely used in augmentation within the meaning of socket preservation, sinus lift, small lateral grafts, overlay and contouring of autologous bone transplants and for sandwich-osteotomies. The bone substitute materials provide save and predictable osteointegrative and osteoconductive properties, in sinus lift they achieve even better results in implant survival then autologous bone. In future, more applications in the context of tissue engineering are expected.