Reconstructing the human face by using the tissue-integrated prosthesis

Reconstructing the human face with autogenous tissue is extremely difficult . A prosthetic device is often used, but retention is a problem. The tissue -integrated prosthesis has resolved this issue, however, and the technique is currently available worldwide, The tissue-integrated prosthesis-that is, a prosthesis supported (retained) by osseointegrated implants in the under lying bone-originated during the 1950s, when Branemark began his laboratory studies of tissue healing in Sweden. The term "osseointegration" was intro duced in 1977 and later was defined as "direct anchorage of an implant by t he formation of bony tissue around the implant without the growth of fibrou s tissue at the bone-implant interface." Early studies during the 1980s and 1990s documented the success of reconstruction of the human face with use of the tissue-integrated prosthesis. Herein we describe three cases in whic h this reconstructive procedure was successful.