Alloplastic augmentation of the anterior mandible.

Alloplastic implantation of the anterior mandible--and when indicated, the posterior mandible--is not only a surgical technique but also a carefully and meticulously learned art form. The day of stuffing preformed and poorly thought out commercial implants into a chin without consideration of host contour is hopefully behind us. During the decade of the 1990s and in subsequent years, the demand will continue to be for a carefully conceived, carefully prepared, and exactly executed repair of mandibular contour defects. The availability of new implant designs makes this actualization a simpler task. Familiarity with osteoplastic techniques and orthodontic possibilities, constraints, and processes allows the aesthetic surgeon to select properly those cases for which alloplastic implantation offers the best solution to the existing problem.