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Missing Teeth

Dental Bone Graft and Sinus Lift in Frisco, TX

A dental bone graft is the step that turns an impossible site into a straightforward one, and the step that can prevent a site becoming impossible in the first place. Done in Frisco by Dr. Holvin Louie, our board-certified periodontist.

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Done hereby Dr. Louie, board-certified periodontist
3–6 monthsfor graft to mature before an implant
Socket graftplaced at the time of extraction, in minutes
Planned from CBCTfull 3D detail before treatment
The process

How bone grafting is planned and done in Frisco

The scan decides whether it is needed and how much. Almost everything else follows from that, including whether it can be done at the same appointment as the implant or has to come months before it.

  1. The 3D scan (CBCT)

    Height, width, density, the position of the nerve in the lower jaw and the floor of the sinus above the upper back teeth. This is the entire basis of the decision, and it is why that answer depends on seeing this scan in person.

  2. Choosing the type of graft and the timing

    A small deficiency is often grafted at the same appointment as the implant. A larger one is built first and left to mature for months before the implant goes in. Doing the second as though it were the first is how implants fail, so we keep to the timeline the bone needs, regardless of the calendar.

  3. The bone grafting procedure

    Under local anesthetic, by Dr. Louie. Grafting material is placed against the site and covered with a membrane that keeps soft tissue from growing into the space while bone fills it. Sedation is available for anyone who would rather not remember the appointment.

  4. Healing: the longest part of bone grafting

    Your own bone grows into and replaces the graft over three to six months. Nothing is asked of you during it except normal hygiene, avoiding smoking, and leaving the site alone.

  5. A second scan before the implant

    We look again before placing anything. If the graft has done what it needed to, the implant goes in. If it has not, we would far rather know then than find out with an implant already in the bone.

Good to know

What a dental bone graft can and cannot do

A socket graft now can prevent a bigger graft later

The most valuable grafting we do is the smallest and the cheapest, and it happens on the day a tooth comes out. An empty socket loses a substantial share of its width in the first months — that is ordinary biology — not bad luck. A socket graft placed at the moment of extraction holds the shape of the site while it heals, and it routinely turns an implant that would have needed major grafting in two years into one that needs none at all. It adds a small amount to the extraction appointment. It is not automatic — we walk you through it openly, and the decision is made with you at the extraction appointment, because it only makes sense if you want to keep an implant possible later. It is the single best-value choice in this entire category, and the window for it is the day of the extraction. That is why we want to talk about the replacement before the tooth comes out, not after.

Planning a replacement before the extraction
A glass dish of granular bone graft material on a stone surface, a titanium packing instrument and folded gauze beside it.

What is a sinus lift?

Above your upper back teeth is the maxillary sinus, an air space with a thin lining. When an upper molar is lost, the bone beneath the sinus often shrinks until there is not enough height to hold an implant — sometimes only two or three millimeters. A sinus lift gently raises that lining and places graft material in the space underneath it, creating bone height where there was none. It sounds far more alarming than it is; it is a routine, well-established periodontal procedure done under local anesthetic. Where only a little height is needed, it is often done through the implant site itself at the same appointment. Where a great deal is needed, it is a separate procedure with months of healing before the implant follows.

A chairside monitor showing a CT slice of an upper back jaw: a thin band of bone with the dark sinus space above it.

Ridge augmentation, ridge graft: one procedure, two names

The same procedures go by several names, which makes searching confusing. A ridge graft, also called ridge augmentation, rebuilds the width or height of the jaw ridge after a site has already narrowed. A socket graft, also called socket preservation or ridge preservation, is placed on the day a tooth comes out to keep the site from narrowing at all. A sinus lift, also called sinus augmentation or a sinus graft, is the upper-jaw version, adding height under the upper back teeth. If the tooth is still in place, a socket graft is the option. If the site has already lost bone, ridge augmentation or a sinus lift is the usual answer.

Three CT views of the upper and lower jaw (side, front and from above) on a wall-mounted monitor, with no name or date on screen.

Bone grafting and sinus lifts near Frisco, Prosper and Plano

Grafting is done at our office at 8175 Custer Rd, Suite A110, Frisco, TX 75035, by Dr. Holvin Louie, our board-certified periodontist. Your own dentist plans the case with him, and your implant and crown are made in the same building. His surgical days are scheduled ahead, so we plan the date with you. We are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 AM to 6 PM and Saturday from 9 AM to 3 PM. We are closed Wednesday and Sunday, though the phone is answered on Wednesday. Patients come from Frisco and from Prosper, Plano, Little Elm, Allen, Celina and McKinney.

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Choosing between options

Socket graft, ridge graft or sinus lift: which one applies

They are not one procedure. The differences in scale, cost and healing time are large.

Comparison of Socket graft, Ridge graft, Sinus lift
FeatureSocket graftRidge graftSinus lift
When it is doneAt the extractionMonths before the implantBefore or with the implant
What it is forKeeping the site you haveRebuilding a site already lostHeight under the upper back teeth
Added appointment timeMinutesA separate visitA separate visit, or the same one
Healing before the implant3–6 months, in place of normal socket healing4–9 months4–9 months, or none if done together
Relative costSmallestLargerLarger
Best thought of asPreventionReconstructionMaking room
In detail

What happens to a tooth socket left to heal on its own

This is the argument for grafting at the time of extraction, and it is the part that is almost impossible to picture until it is drawn.

123
A socket healing after a tooth is removed or replanted
  1. First hours — a clot fills the socket. Protecting it is the whole of early aftercare: no smoking, no straws, no vigorous rinsing.
  2. Around two weeks — soft tissue closes over the site and it stops being tender to everyday food.
  3. Months — bone fills the socket, and the ridge settles slightly lower and narrower. What is left here decides how straightforward a replacement will be.
In depth

Having a tooth removed soon? What to know about bone grafting

The single most useful thing on this page is not about grafting at all. It is about timing.

How a tooth is removed decides how much bone is left behind. An extraction done gently, with the socket walls preserved and a graft placed at the same appointment, leaves a site that will still take an implant in a year or in five. A tooth extracted the ordinary way leaves a site that has narrowed, and the implant that follows may need a considerably larger procedure to make it possible.

That decision is made before the extraction, while the option still exists. Once the tooth is out and the socket has healed on its own, the cheap option has gone.

So if you have been told a tooth cannot be saved, ask two questions at that appointment:

  • Is a socket graft appropriate here, and do I want the site kept for an implant?
  • What are my options for replacing it, and does any of them need deciding today?

You do not have to have chosen the replacement. You only have to know that the choice exists while the window is still open.

If the cost is what is making the decision, read how dental benefits are actually structured first. Grafting and implants sit in the part of the policy that varies most between plans, and it is worth knowing which kind you have before you choose.

Once the site is ready, the implant itself is covered on the dental implants page. A lower denture that moves can be held down by implant-supported dentures, and a whole arch is covered under full-arch implants.

(469) 262-2111

Planning your day

Time in the chair for bone grafting.

In the chair
45 min to 1 hr 30 min
Appointments
One visit
Start to finish
4 to 6 months healing before an implant can be placed
Who does it
Dr. Louie

What moves it: A sinus lift runs longer than a small ridge graft.

This is a booked range. It isn't a stopwatch. It covers being seated, numbed where that is needed, and the treatment itself — and we would rather run to the top of the range than rush the end of it.

Cost & insurance

Bone grafting cost in Frisco and how insurance treats it

Included in the case price up frontGrafting appears on the written estimate at the consultation, as part of the total for the implant route. It is not a figure that arrives afterwards.
A socket graft is the small oneAdded to an extraction appointment it is a modest line item, and it frequently prevents a far larger graft later. On a claim it appears as two codes (D7953 for the graft, D4266 for the membrane that protects it), so you can check both with your plan before the day.
Insurance varies, and often follows the implantPlans that exclude implants frequently exclude the grafting done to support one. Some cover grafting done to preserve a ridge after extraction. We verify yours specifically and tell you which it is.
Pre-authorisationFor anything of this size we submit for pre-authorisation before treatment, so the coverage is confirmed in writing beforehand.

Everything (scan, graft, membrane, healing visits and the implant that follows) is on one written figure before you decide.

You get the figure in writing before treatment starts. We accept all major PPO plans and file the claim for you, our membership plan takes a percentage off treatment, and CareCredit financing is available.

Book a consultationCall (469) 262-2111
Using your insurance

How plans usually cover bone grafting.

Major — Class III on most plans

What plans pay
Commonly around 50% once the deductible is met, which means bone grafting is the kind of treatment where the plan covers about half and the annual maximum decides the rest.
Deductible
Usually applies, and for major work it is rarely waived.

What catches people out

  • Waiting periods. Six or twelve months of holding the policy before major work is covered is common, and it catches people who have just changed employer.
  • The annual maximum. At around 50%, one major procedure can consume most of a $1,000 to $2,000 benefit by itself — which is why the order treatment is done in matters.
  • Frequency limits by tooth. "Once every five years" or "once every seven years" is standard wording, and it counts from the date of the last one wherever it was done.
  • Grafting is sometimes paid as part of the extraction or implant and sometimes as its own item, and a few plans exclude it while covering the implant it exists to make possible.

These are how dental plans usually classify this treatment — not a statement about your own plan. Yours is the one that governs, plans differ more than people expect, and the only reliable answer comes from reading your specific benefits, which we always do ahead of treatment and give you in writing.

And what changes out-of-network

A dentist who is in-network has signed a contract fixing what may be charged for each procedure and cannot bill you the difference. One who is out-of-network has signed nothing, so the full fee stands.

So the first difference is the price itself — the same treatment is simply allowed to cost more out-of-network, before anyone's plan is considered.

What you personally pay out of that depends on your own deductible and coinsurance, which is why there is no percentage here: it is not a property of the treatment, it is a property of your plan, and we verify yours before you commit. But two things follow for everybody. Your share is a share of a bigger number. And your annual maximum is spent by what the plan pays toward that bigger number, so the same treatment eats more of your benefit out-of-network.

An illustration, not a quote. Both allowed fees for bone grafting are not yet on hand, so the chart above shows a crown instead — the one procedure we hold both sides for. The in-network side is today's contracted allowance; the out-of-network side is what a single carrier allowed during a period when we were not contracted with it, and it is a few years old. Across the 23 procedures where we hold both allowed fees, out-of-network is between 1.2 and 5 times the in-network figure — most often a little over twice.

Check the going rate yourself

FAIR Health's dental cost lookup is free, needs no account, and is not ours — it reports what a procedure typically costs in your area. It does not know your plan, so treat it as a ballpark figure — not a final answer.

Ask us for the number first

We verify your specific plan before your appointment and give you a written estimate: what the plan is expected to pay, and what you pay. If we get it wrong we tell you why.

Bring an Explanation of Benefits

Treated somewhere else? Your EOB shows exactly what the plan paid and what it counted against your maximum. Bring one in and we will read it with you — whether or not you become a patient here.

None of this says out-of-network dentists are worse dentists. Plenty are excellent, plenty are out-of-network for sound reasons, and people choose a dentist for who that person is. What we think you are owed is the information, so that whatever you choose, you chose it knowingly. The whole thing, explained properly, or call (469) 262-2111 and ask.

What happens next

Dental bone graft healing stages, week by week

Most people find this easier than they expected. The long part is not discomfort; it is waiting.

  1. Days 1–3Swelling, peaking at about forty-eight hours

    Cold compresses, ordinary anti-inflammatories for most people, and rest. Some bruising is normal, particularly after a larger graft.

  2. The first weekLeave the graft site alone

    No poking with the tongue, no rinsing hard, no spitting, no straws. A graft is granular material held in place by a membrane and a clot — the aim of week one is not to disturb it.

  3. After a sinus liftTwo extra rules

    Do not blow your nose, and sneeze with your mouth open, for as long as you are told. Pressure in the sinus is the one thing that can displace an upper graft.

  4. Weeks 2–4Back to normal, from the outside

    Soft tissue has closed and you will feel fine. The bone underneath is at the very beginning of its work, which is why the wait continues after the discomfort has gone.

  5. Months 3–9New bone gradually replaces the graft

    Your own bone grows into the material and takes it over. We scan again before placing the implant to confirm it has worked.

Getting here

Booking dental bone graft and sinus lift in Frisco

Smoking is the single largest controllable risk to a graft, and the weeks immediately after placement matter most. If you smoke, tell us — it changes the plan and the odds, and we would rather work with the truth than around it.

Book an appointmentCall (469) 262-2111
Hours
Weekdays 9–6
Saturdays 9–3
Languages
English, Telugu, Hindi, Urdu
Arabic with Saba, our hygienist, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays
Vietnamese with Anh, our hygienist, Saturdays
Cantonese and Mandarin with Dr. Louie, our periodontist, on his scheduled days, by internal referral
Also serving
McKinneyPlanoProsperLittle ElmAllenCelina
Before you call

Questions Frisco patients ask about dental bone grafts and sinus lifts

Grouped so you can go straight to the one you came for.

Dental Bone Graft and Sinus Lift — common questions

Why do I need a bone graft for an implant?
Because an implant needs bone to hold it, and bone shrinks where a tooth is missing. Most of that loss happens in the first year after the tooth is lost, and it does not stop entirely. A graft rebuilds enough height and width to place the implant properly, which turns a site that could not take one into a site that can. It adds healing months and does not rule the treatment out.
How painful is a dental bone graft?
It is done under local anesthetic, so the procedure itself should not be. Afterwards, most people describe soreness and swelling for a few days, peaking at around forty-eight hours, managed with over-the-counter anti-inflammatories. Larger grafts are more uncomfortable than small ones, and most patients report it as easier than they had expected.
How long does a bone graft take to heal before an implant?
Typically three to six months for a socket graft and four to nine for a larger ridge graft or a sinus lift. The soft tissue closes in a couple of weeks and you will feel fine long before the bone is ready — which is precisely why we take another scan before placing the implant and not going by the calendar.
What is a sinus lift?
A procedure that creates bone height under the maxillary sinus, in the upper back jaw, where the bone has become too thin to hold an implant. The sinus lining is gently raised and graft material is placed in the space beneath it. Where only a small amount of height is needed it can often be done through the implant site at the same appointment; where a great deal is needed it is a separate procedure with months of healing first.
What is the graft material made of?
Several kinds are used depending on the site and the job — processed human donor bone, bovine-derived mineral, synthetic materials, and in some cases your own bone. All of them work as a scaffold: your body grows its own bone into the material and replaces it over the following months. Dr. Louie will tell you which is being used in your case and why, and you are entitled to ask.
Can I avoid needing a graft?
Often, yes — by grafting the socket at the time the tooth is removed. That small procedure holds the shape of the site while it heals and routinely prevents the far larger graft the same site would need two years later. It is offered — not assumed: if you want to keep an implant possible later, say so at the extraction appointment and we will place it then. On a claim it appears as D7953 for the graft with D4266 for the membrane, so you can check both with your plan in advance.
Do bone grafts fail?
Occasionally, yes, and we would rather say so. Smoking is by far the largest controllable risk. Uncontrolled diabetes, some medications, and infection at the site all raise it. We scan before placing the implant precisely so that a graft which has not matured is found then and dealt with, and not discovered later with an implant already in place.
Is grafting done here or am I referred out?
Here. Grafting and implant surgery are done by Dr. Louie, a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology, in the same building where your own dentist plans the case and makes the final crown. His surgical days are scheduled, so this is planned ahead and not booked same-week.
Is a sinus lift painful or risky?
It is done under local anesthetic, so the procedure itself should not hurt, and most people describe the days afterward as pressure and mild soreness. The most common complication is a small tear in the sinus lining, which is usually repaired during the procedure. Do not blow your nose, and tell us if you smoke.
How soon can I eat normally after a bone graft?
Most people eat soft, cool food the same day and return to a normal diet within about two weeks, chewing on the other side. Avoid hard, crunchy or sticky food on the graft site until the tissue has closed. Follow the exact timing you are given, because it depends on how large the graft was.
Do I need a bone graft after a tooth extraction?
Not always. It depends on the tooth, the thickness of the socket walls and whether you want an implant later. A socket graft placed on the day of extraction keeps the shape of the site and often prevents a larger graft years afterward. Decide at the extraction appointment, because that window closes once the socket heals.
What is ridge augmentation?
Ridge augmentation is a bone graft that rebuilds the width or height of the jaw ridge where a tooth was lost, so an implant can be placed. It is the same thing as a ridge graft. It is done under local anesthetic and usually needs four to nine months of healing, confirmed by a scan, before the implant.
Can I get a dental implant without a bone graft?
Often yes. If the scan shows enough height and width of healthy bone, the implant can go in without grafting. We recommend a graft only when the scan shows the bone is too thin or too short to hold the implant for the long term. The scan decides, not a standard package.
How much does a dental bone graft cost in Frisco?
It depends on the type of graft and how large the site is, so we quote after a scan and not before. You get one written figure, with any insurance estimate shown separately, before anything is scheduled. Coverage varies by plan, and we verify your benefits before treatment begins.
Where can I get a dental bone graft near me in Frisco?
Dental bone grafts and sinus lifts are planned and placed at White Lotus Dental, 8175 Custer Rd, Suite A110, Frisco, TX 75035, on Custer Road in east Frisco. Doors are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM, and Saturday, 9 AM to 3 PM. Call (469) 262-2111 to book a visit.
What should I avoid after a dental bone graft?
Avoid hard, crunchy or sticky food on the graft site until the tissue has closed. Follow the exact timing you are given, because it depends on how large the graft was. Most people eat soft, cool food the same day and return to a normal diet within about two weeks, chewing on the other side.
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White Lotus Dental offers nine dental specialties inside one calm office on Custer Road. Having general dentists and an in-house periodontist on staff means your entire family can receive preventive, restorative, and surgical treatments in one familiar place.

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Permanent dental implants, dental bridges, and customized dentures planned using 3-D CBCT scans. Because our team includes a board-certified periodontist, your implant surgery, placement, and final crown are completed in the same building.

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Specialized gum disease therapy, scaling and root planing (deep cleanings), frenectomies, and periodontal surgery performed by our board-certified periodontist.

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