Temporal Flap as an Option for Buconasal Fistula Closure.

Maxillary defects with buconasal/businusal communications are situations difficult to manage and solve. Several treatment options are available on the literature, each one with its indication. Temporal muscle flap is one of these options, being a technique that requires more experience of the surgeon to be properly performed and that is mainly indicated for difficult cases, large defects and those nonresponsive to simpler techniques. The main purpose of this paper is to report 3 clinical patients of the application of the temporal muscle flap for the closure of extensive oral defects. None of the patients had necrosis, nervous deficits, or any long-term changes. The authors conclude that the use of this flap was shown to be a viable, safe technique with low complication and high success rates, which may contribute to the rehabilitation of well-indicated patients.

Pedicle Tongue Flap for Palatal Fistula Closure.

BACKGROUND: Palatal fistulae are common sequels that appear in patients after surgical procedures in the palate. Considering the difficulty to achieve an effective treatment, there are many techniques to surgically manage fistulae, that is, the pedicle tongue flap. OBJECTIVE: Being so, the main goal of this paper is to report cases of patients with palatal fistulae, from different etiologies, treated with anterior pedicle tongue flap. PATIENTS: Eleven patients, 8 male and 3 female, mean age of 32 years old with palatal fistulae surgically treated with anterior dorsal tongue flaps. No flap was completely lost. There was 1 partial loss and 1 residual buconasal communication. The most common complaints of the patients were difficulty to perform oral hygiene and mild pain. CONCLUSION: The use of anterior pedicle tongue flap for closing palatal fistulae demonstrates to be a safe procedure with high success rates (81% in this paper) when correctly indicated.