Microvascular reconstruction and dental rehabilitation of benign severely atrophic jaws and defects of the alveolar ridge: our philosophy in 2019.

We deal regularly with patients who present with severe atrophy of the jaws, compromised soft tissue, or penetrating defects of the alveolar ridge that are not the result of malignant disease. For these patients we use microvascular bony flaps together with dental implants and implant-supported prostheses. The purpose of this retrospective study was to present our current management and the lessons we have learned over a 16-year period while treating 86 patients for these indications with 87 microvascular bone flaps. We used a transoral approach for the anastomosis in 60 flaps, thereby avoiding visible scars, and inserted 281 dental implants to support fixed or removable dental prostheses. Two femoral flaps developed partial necrosis, and seven implants were lost. Eighty-five of the 86 patients were satisfied with the improvement in their orofacial function and aesthetics. Poor oral hygiene, active osteomyelitis, and severe bruxism are absolute contraindications.

Implantes cortos como alternativa terapéutica actual en el tratamiento de maxilares atróficos / Short implants as current therapeutic alternatives to the treatment of athrophic jaws

La variación en el volumen óseo producida tras la pérdida dental, hace que el tratamiento de los pacientesque presentan atrofias avanzadas en los maxilares sea un desafío para todo cirujano. En la actualidad, el uso de implantes dentales para reemplazar piezas dentarias perdidas es una opción de tratamiento. El tratamiento con implantes cortos se comporta tanpredecible como el uso de implantes convencionales, pero estos resultados siguen siendo objeto de controversia. Los implantes cortos tienen tasas de éxito similares a las de los implantes de longitud estándar, pueden ser utilizados como alternativa en el tratamiento de maxilares atróficos, siempre que sean manejadosbajo una cuidadosa planificación de tratamiento. El objetivo del presente trabajo es exponer una revisiónde la literatura actual sobre el uso de implantes cortos como alternativa de tratamiento terapéutico en presencia de maxilares atróficos.

The variation in the bone volume produced afterdental loss makes the treatment of patientswith advanced atrophies in the jaws a challengefor every surgeon. At present, the use of dental implants to replace lost teeth is a treatment option.Treatment with short implants behaves aspredictably as the use of conventional implants,but these results remain controversial. Short implants have similar success rates to thoseof standard length implants and can be usedas an alternative in the treatment of atrophic jaws, provided they are handled under careful treatment planning.The aim of the present study is to presenta review of the current literature on the use of short implants as an alternative therapeutic treatment in the presence of atrophic jaws.

Osteoperiosteal free fibula flap as an effective preprosthetic reconstructive option in severe jaw atrophy and oncological resection.

The gold standard in modern surgical treatment of patients with severe maxillo-mandibular atrophy must include the aim to achieve restoration of function and aesthetics with immediate reconstruction of the oro-mandibular defects. The medical records of 14 patients who were treated in a 5-year period (2010-2014) at our department with severe maxillary and mandibular atrophy, and reconstructed by vascularised free fibula flap were reviewed. Among the former, a total of 14 patients underwent maxillary and mandibular reconstruction using the osteoperiosteal fibula free flap. No major complications were reported. The main advantage of this technique is that it allows the formation of keratinised gengiva, which provides the best implantological options. The only disadvantage of the technique is that the wounds have to heal for second intention, and for this reason patients have to undergo strict follow-up for the first months after the operation. The aim of this article is to evaluate the efficiency of the technique in bone reconstruction after jaw resection or severe atrophy.

How much bone loss can be prevented by alveolar ridge preservation? Systematic literature review and meta-analysis

Aim: resorption of alveolar bone following tooth loss represents a major limitation in the use of dental implants. Procedures of ridge or socket preservation have been introduced to maintain bone dimensions and enable prosthetically driven implant positioning, yet circumventing two-stage bone graft surgery. The aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to quantify reduction of alveolar ridge resorption in horizontal as well as vertical dimension (compared to untreated controls) reported in clinical trials on alveolar ridge grafting. Materials and Methods: systematic electronic and hand searches yielded 4 investigations published between 2000 and 2009 that met the inclusion criteria. A total of 74 ridge preservation procedures and 61 control sites were evaluated 6-7 months after surgery. Results: mean loss of bone height and width was 0.3 mm and 2.5 mm after ridge preservation surgery compared to 1.2 mm and 3.5 mm in the control group, respectively. Prevention of horizontal shrinkage (mean: 28%, range: 12-55%, OR = 1.6) was significantly less effective (p = 0.034) than reduction of vertical bone resorption (mean: 74%, range: 60-88%, OR = 4.9). Conclusion: alveolar ridge preservation may be effectively used to increase available bone height and width by 1 mm, on average