Clinical Outcomes of Esthetic and Functional Rehabilitation with Dental Implants in Patients with Alveolar Cleft

Background and aim: Alveolar cleft is notable congenital deformity in the oral and maxillofacial region. And missing incisor is often associated with the cleft site. Owing to recent advances in bone grafting techniques, dental implant treatment has become an appreciable method of restoring the edentulous space at the cleft site in addition to conventional methods using bridges or dentures. In this study, we investigated the risk factors related to esthetic outcomes of implant treatment at alveolar cleft sites. Materials and methods: A total of 13 patients treated with dental implants for missing teeth associated with an alveolar cleft were examined. The patients’ gender, cleft type, and number of dental implants were recorded. The ages of patients at bone grafting for cleft closure, additional bone grafting prior to dental implant surgery, and dental implant placement were also investigated. Seven risk factors were assessed to evaluate the relation to esthetic outcomes. Results: Five to thirteen years after the final prostheses were delivered, neither marginal bone resorption nor loss of dental implants were found. The esthetic outcomes differed among patients according to several risk factors. Discussion and conclusion: Oral rehabilitation with dental implants represented a promising treatment for alveolar cleft sites when bone graft was appropriate. However, the esthetic outcomes of this treatment depend upon multiple risk factors. Type of Clefts r-s l-s Bilateral Total Male 1 3 1 5 Female 0 6 2 8 Total 1 9 3 13 r-s: right side l-s: left side Table 1: Description of the 13 patients evaluated in the present study. Journal of Tissue Science & Engineering J o u r n a l o f T iss ue S cience &ngine e r i n g