Evaluation of early bone recovery in grafted jaw with anterior iliac bone: a retrospective study

Aims Atrophic jaws make implant planning difficult due to the lack of bone, and this situation directs the surgeon to advanced surgical methods. Today, autogenous grafts are still the gold standard. The aim of this study was to evaluate the bone stability of horizontal bone grafts taken from the iliac crest. Materials and metods Twenty patients receiving horizontal bone grafts were included in this retrospective cohort study. All patients were treated with bone harvested from the anterior iliac crest. The measurements were made by means of a caliper. Screw heads reference point taken. Resorption rate was followed up in a total of 188 edentulous areas. Results Graft resorption rate was 34.66% (+/- 20.53), 32.42% (+/- 19.39) in the maxilla and 48.03% (+/- 22.34) in the mandible. It was observed that the average bone thickness increased from 2.38 mm to 7.22 mm. Conclusions The result of the present study highlight that thicker block grafts, which were applied due to the expected resorption rate, result in a higher resorption rate after recovery. Therefore, by considering soft tissue margins, the importance of harvesting a sufficient, but not excessive, amount of grafting is underscored.