AlloDerm® Gum Grafts

Healthy gum tissue protects your teeth from disease and helps produce a great smile. However, when you experience gum tissue loss around your teeth, it can be the beginning of serious oral health problems. Fortunately, Dr. Forrest can perform a predictable procedure for reversing this tissue loss. In the past, this procedure has required that a piece of tissue be harvested from the roof of the mouth to serve as the graft material. Unfortunately, not everyone has enough tissue available, or wants to have tissue taken from this sensitive area.

Now however, you have a choice. AlloDerm is a dermal matrix that allows Dr. Forrest to give you the tissue graft you need, without the limitations associated with harvesting the graft material from somewhere else in your mouth. AlloDerm provides the missing components needed to restore health to damaged or receding tissue. It leads to fast healing with no second surgical site, and delivers great cosmetic results. Thousands of doctors and patients have made it their choice too.

AlloDerm Regenerative Tissue Matrix is processed from donated human tissue that must pass the same stringent screening criteria as any other implantable tissue or organ (heart, lungs & kidneys, etc.).

How safe is AlloDerm®?
Besides its use in dental applications, AlloDerm has been used extensively in Burn Reconstruction and Plastic Reconstructive Surgery. In its history of over 10 years and 500,000 procedures, there has never been a reported case of viral disease transmission from AlloDerm tissue.

How does AlloDerm® work?
AlloDerm provides the collagen structure and proteins that help your body's own tissue grow and remodel. The collagen serves as a scaffold into which your cells can grow. The proteins act as recruiters, drawing your cells into the graft, and telling them how to remodel it. As the body's natural processes take over, your own cells move into the AlloDerm. Over time, your cells transform the AlloDerm into your own healthy gum tissue. You should experience significant healing within the first week. Complete healing may take 2 to 6 months depending on the type of surgery. Once recovery is complete, you won't be able to tell the AlloDerm was ever there!

You have the freedom of choice: to use tissue harvested from another part of your mouth, or to use AlloDerm.