Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy has gained traction thanks to professional athletes sharing their experiences using PRP to treat sports injuries. PRP therapy is regenerative medicine therapy that uses your own blood to stimulate your body’s natural healing processes. PRP therapy isn’t limited to treating sports injuries, though.
Here at Northern Virginia Oral, Maxillofacial & Implant Surgery, our team of experts use PRP therapy in a dental setting to promote healing after various procedures and to improve your appearance.
8 oral and maxillofacial procedures that benefit from PRP
Because the platelets in your blood are rich in growth factors, the PRP that we use encourages healing responses in your body. PRP therapy is incorporated into many different oral and maxillofacial procedures. You might benefit from PRP if you need:
- A sinus lift procedure
- To correct bone defects after an extraction
- To support healing after the removal of an oral cyst
- Bone grafting
- Onlay and inlay grafts
- Ridge augmentation procedures
- Cleft lip and cleft palate correction
- Dental implants
PRP injections can help reduce pain and inflammation while encouraging your healing.
How do PRP injections improve your appearance?
While the initial oral procedure (such as dental implants) is designed to enhance the form and function of your mouth, PRP therapy can contribute to these goals. The more quickly you recover, the sooner you can share your smile with the world.
Let’s consider another example: if you need a bone graft before receiving your implant, it can take months for your bone to heal, which means it can take months before you receive the final piece of your implant. Because PRP injections are rich in growth factors, each PRP injection helps heal the wound, forms healing blood clots near the site of the wound, and encourages tissue regeneration. What does this mean for your dental implant? When PRP injections are used during your bone graft, your recovery timeline is sped up, which allows you to receive your implant sooner 一 and achieve the smile of which you’ve dreamed.
How does PRP work?
PRP therapy is made completely from your own blood. There are no synthetic ingredients, and the process for creating PRP is straightforward. To prepare your PRP injection, your Northern Virginia Oral, Maxillofacial & Implant Surgery provider draws about 55 cc’s of blood. This is a similar process to any other blood draw you’ve experienced. A quick pinch and it’s done!
Next, your blood sample is placed into a centrifuge, a machine that spins fast enough to separate the platelets from your blood. This concentration of platelets is what is used to encourage healing. Your PRP injection may then be injected directly into the affected area, whether that’s your gums surrounding a new dental implant or near the site of your gone graft.
To recap, PRP injections:
- Are well-tolerated (since they are made from your own blood)
- Are versatile and used for many different oral and maxillofacial procedures
- Encourage tissue regeneration
- Promote your body’s natural healing processes
- Improve your appearance by supporting your body as you receive oral procedures, such as dental implants or bone grafts
Are you curious about PRP? To learn more about how PRP can improve your appearance, schedule an appointment for any of our locations via our online scheduling tool.