A procedure used to increase the size, shape, or quality of an edentulous dental ridge or space that has typically lost ideal contour after loss of the dentition (or failure to develop dentition).
In periodontics, increasing the width or height of the bony foundation (the alveolar ridge) in which the teeth are seated. The procedure may involve the use of bone grafts, soft tissue grafts, or bone substitutes. It is often used before dental implants are placed in people with tooth loss due to dental trauma whose alveolar ridge has atrophied.