[A serial histological study on suture expansion osteogenesis for cleft palate closure].

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to know the process of tissue response and regeneration in the palato-maxillary suture under tensile forces.

METHODS

Sutural tissue changes after 3, 7, 14, 28, 56 days of suture expansion were examined histologically and fluorescently.

RESULTS

It was found that a cyst-like zone appeared in the conjuncture of bony front and sutural connective tissue at the early stage of sutural expansion. Then a great amount of osteoblasts and fibroblasts proliferated. New bone deposited along the septum and the front of the cyst until the new bone front formed and the suture restored its original morphology.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggested that sutural expansion be a process of bone tissue regeneration and fibrous tissue repair.