Placement of endosseous implants into bone-grafted alveolar clefts: Assessment of bone bridge after autogenous particulate cancellous bone and marrowgraft

The objective of this study was to evaluate the bone quantity of alveoli gr afted with autogenous particulate cancellous bone and marrow for implant pl acement in patients with alveolar clefts. Bone height, bone width, and inte rdental alveolar crest level were evaluated using computed tomography and p eriapical radiographs. The grafted alveoli underwent resorption 3-dimension ally, and the interdental alveolar crest level also decreased. The latter s eemed to be the critical factor for implant surgery, as almost half of the grafted alveoli required another bone graft within 24 months after the orig inal bone graft to increase the interdental alveolar crest level for endoss eous implant placement. These data suggest that alveoli grafted with partic ulate cancellous bone and marrow are suitable for implant placement, but th at the loss of width and height oi the bone bridge must also be considered.