This is a great question. The best source of bone is your own bone - referred to as an autogenous bone graft. Without invasive surgery, your bone is not readily available, and harvesting it can cause more harm than good. The next best thing is human allograft bone from another human. Bone allografts are processed in a few ways. At Sarasota Dentistry, we use demineralized freeze-dried bone allograft which has been used for over 30 years without any disease transmission.
Another source of bone is animal bone, referred to as a bone xenograft. The last source is synthetic bone graft - a man-made bone graft matrix. Unfortunately, synthetic bone grafts do nott work as well as allografts. Allografts and autografts (human bone source) actually stimulate blood cells to differentiate into bone forming cells. Xenografts (animal) are only a scaffolding, where no stimulation occurs.
To date, xenografts require more healing time and result in weaker bone formation. As technology continues to advance, so does bone grafting techniques, tools and procedures. These advances continue to enhance patient comfort and result in more predictable dentistry.