Tridimensional reconstruction of knife-edge ridges with autogenous/homologous bone blocks

Severe bone loss in partially or totally edentulous patients still represent a limit and a challenge for prosthetic restoration based on oral implants, due to the difficulty or impossibility to place implants in the residual bone and/or in the proper position. Among the different materials used for reconstructive purposes, autogenous bone still represent the best documented material in terms of number of patients and length of follow-up. However, in particular in case of large reconstructions where extraoral bone is necessary, the use of autogenous bone exposes to a relevant postoperative morbidity. More recently, allogeneic fresh frozen bone has been proposed to reduce morbidity, but there is still limited data on this topic. Aim of this lecture is to report the preliminary results of a sample of patients treated with allogeneic fresh frozen bone for large mandibular and/or maxillary defects followed by prosthetic restoration on oral implants and to compare clinical and histologic results with a group of patients treated with autogenous bone taken from the iliac crest and/or the calvarium. Clinical, radiographic, as well well as histologic results will be reported