Fracture of the tibia: complication of bone grafting to the anterior maxilla.

Autogenous tibial cancellous bone has been used for reconstructive operations in oral and maxillofacial surgery for over 10 years, and has reduced many of the problems associated with conventional sites of autogenous grafts such as the iliac crest. The ease of access for harvesting, the speed of the operation, and the abundance of bone, are advantages of this donor site. We report a patient who had a graft taken from the proximal tibia and had a displaced fracture 2 weeks later after a fall. Five similar cases have been reported previously, of which none has required surgical intervention.