Rehabilitation of edentulous atrophic anterior mandible - the role of vertical alveolar distraction osteogenesis.

The rehabilitation of patients with edentulous alveolar ridge is always a challenge, more so in case of a long standing atrophic mandible. Mandible, the largest movable bone in the maxillofacial skeleton is associated with many soft tissue attachments which imparts dislodging forces to prosthesis. In addition to this, the rate of resorption of the mandibular ridge is four times that of the maxilla. These factors make the environment of the mandibular arch less favorable to complete denture stability and retention. An ideal solution would be to augment the atrophic alveolar ridge with native bone of the individual which shall eliminate the possible complications, associated with conventional ridge augmentation procedures. With advent of modern technology, and increased biological understanding, the principles of distraction osteogenesis are increasingly being applied to the craniofacial skeleton and have been found to be a viable option in augmenting the native alveolar bone in the mandible. Here the application of an indigenous stainless steel vertical alveolar distraction device to augment atrophic anterior mandibular ridge is assessed in six patients.