When teeth are extracted, the bone often resorbs during healing and leaves an indentation in the gum. When a bridge is placed, this concavity prevents the artificial tooth from looking natural. Instead it looks like it is just lying on the gum. By repairing the ridge defect with a ridge augmentation, the artificial tooth now looks like it is growing out of the gum, and cannot be distinguished from the natural teeth. This more natural situation is also unlikely to develop food impaction for the patient.
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Severe ridge defect
after extraction
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Ridge augmented to
return normal shape
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Deficient ridge making
artificial tooth
look unnatural
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Ridge augmented and
expanded so artificial
tooth appears to
emerge from gum
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The best way to treat a ridge deficiency is to prevent it from occurring. The amount of bone loss from an extraction can be minimized by performing a ridge augmentation and socket bone graft at the time of extraction (See Treating Extraction Sites).
Click here to view the American Academy of Periodontology's consumer page on ridge augmentation: http://www.perio.org/consumer/ridge.htm