Alveolar Bone Distraction Osteogenesis at Maxillary Anterior Region for Forward-Downward Movement

ABSTRACT

distraction osteogenesis (ADO) has been regarded as an acceptable treatment for the alveolar bone deficiency. For ADO at anterior maxillary area, the vector should be oriented to forward and downward direction to get an adequate occlusion with mandibular teeth and to increase bone length and width for implant placement. However, the conventional commercial distraction devices for ADO are designed to allow mainly downward movement of alveolar segment, even though a forward movement can be obtained a little by controlling of inclination of device. To make ADO with controllable bidirectional vector possible, we used customized devices using self-manufactured ABDUL (Alveolar Bone Distractor Using Lag screw principle) and commercial orthodontic palatal expansion device (Hyrex(R)). In all cases (n = 4), ADO could be performed successfully and dental implants were able to placed with adequate occlusion. We report the procedures, advantages and disadvantages of these methods.