title: Cancellous bone grafting in alveolar cleft repair: new experience.
abstract: Bone grafting plays an important role in the dental rehabilitation of patients with alveolar cleft. During the period between 1993 and 2001, 12 patients with alveolar clefts have been treated in our clinic. Cancellous iliac bone grafts were used in all 12 patients. Seven patients had left and five patients had right complete unilateral cleft lip and complete cleft palate operations. All patients had palatal fistulas. The ages were between 4 and 18 years (mean age, 10.5 y). Seven of them were female (58.4%) and 5 were male (41.6%). All the cancellous grafts survived. Enough filling and the closure of the fistulas were achieved except one patient who had wound dehiscence and partial graft loss. The patients experienced a limp for 2 days (mean time) because of the donor site. This surgical procedure achieves successful results if it is used with the proper indication in suitable cases.
authors.affiliation: Plastic and Reconstructuive Surgery Department, Ege University, Bornova-Izmir, Turkey. ubilkay@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Ufuk
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bilkay
authors.forename: Cenk
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tokat
authors.forename: Cuneyt
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ozek
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gundogan
authors.forename: Tahir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gurler
authors.forename: Zuhal
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tegsel
authors.forename: Ecmel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Songur
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000473:pathology; D000543:Alveoloplasty / Q000379:methods*; D016025:Bone Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000601:surgery; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D009668:Nose Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D016155:Oral Fistula / Q000601:surgery; D010521:Periosteum / Q000601:surgery; D013529:Surgical Wound Dehiscence / Q000209:etiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome