Alveolar Ridge Augmentation Techniques in Implant Dentistry

Abstract

Implant supported restorations have become an ideal treatment alternative for the rehabilitation of edentulous sites. However alveolar bone defects due to resorption, trauma or oncologic diseases may considerably affect favorable implant positioning and prosthetic outcomes. Various alveolar ridge augmentation procedures are available to gain enough bone volume and apply the ideal treatment plan afterwards. Guided bone regeneration, ridge splitting, distraction osteogenesis, maxillary sinus augmentation and autogenous block bone grafting are main techniques which have successful outcomes in reconstruction of bone defects. It's difficult to demonstrate that one augmentation procedure offers better outcomes than another. Studies documenting augmentation techniques seem to be comparable and state favorable results for each procedure.