title: Clinical outcomes of dental implant therapy in alveolar cleft patients: a systematic review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this report was to evaluate data from published articles to determine the success and effectiveness of advanced bone grafting and dental implant therapy in alveolar cleft patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A MEDLINE (PubMed) search was conducted of articles published in English without limits regarding year of publication. Bone grafting, implant survival and success rates, marginal bone resorption, esthetic outcomes, and patient satisfaction were evaluated. Screening of eligible studies, quality assessment, and data interpretation were conducted by two reviewers independently.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven retrospective and four prospective clinical studies were selected and analyzed. In all, 484 dental implants in 377 participants were investigated. The mean survival rate was 91.5% ± 4.77% with a mean follow-up of 54.3±24.7 months. One hundred eleven of the 257 patients (43.1% ± 31.6%) with inadequate bone volume following initial bone grafting received secondary and/or tertiary bone grafting. The donor sites included the tibia, iliac crest, mandibular symphysis, and mandibular ramus. After dental implant placement, studies showed a difference in marginal bone loss around implants ranging from a mean of 0.28 mm with a 40-month follow-up to a mean of 3.5 mm with a 76-month follow-up. There were few data reporting the esthetic outcomes of implants; these focused on the loss of papillae and longer definitive restorations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Differing levels of evidence were available for clinical outcomes of dental implants in alveolar cleft patients. Treatment with dental implant therapy and bone grafting for patients with a history of alveolar clefts seems to be a predictable treatment option in the short term (< 5 years). However, more long-term (> 5 years) data for implant success rates and peri-implant clinical parameters are needed.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yiqun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Duohong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: Guomin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Darnell
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaigler
mesh_terms: D064728:Alveolar Bone Grafting; D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000209:etiology; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000601:surgery*; D003758:Dental Implantation, Endosseous; D015921:Dental Implants; D006801:Humans; D016019:Survival Analysis; D060053:Transplant Donor Site / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D015921:Dental Implants