Bone resorption and/or osteogenesis of the mandible in implanto-orthognathic reconstructive surgery.

Over a period of 18-48 months, the bone resorption, or bone deposition (osteogenesis) of the mandible, in the supero-inferior dimension, was evaluated in patients who had had implanto-orthognathic reconstructive surgery (IORS). It entails the combination of three different types of surgical involvement for the reconstruction of the atrophic (class V), and severely atrophic (class VI) mandibular alveolar ridge (Bütow and Duvenage, 1993). This type of surgical reconstruction combines orthognathic osteotomy, interpositional bone grafting and the immediate placement of osseointegrated implants by means of a trans-mucoperiosteal approach. Evaluation of the mandibular IORS over the long-term, has proven that not only is there minimal resorption, but that osteogenesis of the alveolar ridge occurs.