Utility of tooth as an autogenous graft material in the defects of alveolar cleft - A novel case report.

Reconstruction of the alveolar cleft is very important for providing both aesthetic as well as functional benefits to the patients with cleft lip and palate. The autogenous iliac crest is the most widely used bone graft in SABG procedures. There are very few published studies in the literature where tooth as an autogenous graft is used in dentoalveolar defects. Through the medium of this article, we present a novel idea of the tooth as a graft in a 20-year-old male patient with bilateral cleft alveolus. Grafting of the bilateral cleft alveolus was done by using an autogenous graft from the teeth which were indicated for extraction. The patient was monitored at 1-week, 1-month, and 6-month intervals postoperatively. On the Bergland scale, the bone graft of Type I was seen on the right side as the interdental bone level was normal and Type II was seen on the left side as the interdental bone level was greater than three-quarters of normal height. The result of this report proves that autogenous tooth graft is equally effective as compared to the other options available today. The postoperative complications are also minimal with no donor site morbidity.