Supplement the Base to Complement the Crown: Localized Ridge Augmentation using Connective Tissue Graft.

Interdisciplinary approach should be contemplated as a long term solution for esthetic and functional dental rehabilitation of patients. To obtain longevity of treatment, the therapeutic decisions must be based on a strong periodontal foundation. To prevent unacceptable esthetic deformities due to lost oral tissues, a plethora of treatment modalities are available, to augment the alveolar ridge, and to improve the esthetic outcome of the final prosthesis. Prior to the replacement of missing teeth, esthetic, and physiologic corrections of edentulous areas are critical pre‑requisites. This article describes a surgical procedure to enhance a localized buccal ridge defect and create an emergence profile in relation to the maxillary left central incisor region, prior to the construction of a fixed partial denture using a connective tissue graft.

Augmentation of residual alveolar bone height with tissue engineering for dental implant placement.

The challenge of correcting deficient vertical alveolar height for dental implant placement has been there since dental implants came in to regular clinical placement. The ability of various methods to increase the residual alveolar height has met with varying results. The primary reason is that the techniques were not quite successful in maintaining the required residual alveolar height. Use of Bone Morphogentic Protein, especially rhBMP-2 has been met with high degree of success in deficient vertical alveolar height in a mandibular ridge. The demonstration of this using a case has been presented here.