Dental implant placement with simultaneous ridge split technique in posterior atrophic alveolar mandibular crest

Abstract

Background: Narrow alveolar ridges of 3 mm or less remain a challenge for successful implant placement. When an implant is placed, Scipioni and coworkers suggested that a minimum thickness of 1–1.5 mm of bone should remain on both buccal and lingual aspects of the implant. If this is neglected, then the buccal cortical plate fractures and the implant loses its initial primary stability. Several surgical techniques for ridge augmentation procedures were proposed, for example guided bone regeneration, autologous bone grafting in combination or without bone substitute material. These procedures often require long period of time, are expensive and in case of autogenous bone block grafts causes additional trauma. As an alternative method, ridge split procedures introduced in 1992 by Simion et al. and later developed by Scipioni et al. provides the possibility of immediate implant placement. Main concept of this technique relies on elasticity of the bone.