1987 Volume 33 Issue 11 Pages 2152-2158
This report was undertaken to reveal the process of changes occuring in the alveolar clefts secondarily transplanted with fresh autogenous particulate cancellous bone and marrow of iliac bone, the frequency of the bone bridge formation in the alveolar cleft, and the time of bone bridging after the operation.
The subjects were 87 cases with alveolar clefts, which consisted of 14 cleft lip and alveolus, 55 unilateral cleft lip and palate, and 18 bilateral cleft lip and palate. The average age at the time of bone grafting was 13 years 0 month with a range from 8 years 5 months to 22 years 1 month. The materials used in this investigation were periapical and occlusal radiographs taken before and after the bone grafting.
The information obtained was summarized as follows:
1. The frequency of the bone bridge formation in the alveolar clefts by one year postoperatively was 84.9% as a whole, and it had a tendency to decrease as the patients age increased.
2. The bone bridge formation was completed from three to six months in the majority of the cases, and the average bone bridging time was 5. 4 months after the operation. The completion of the bone bridge formation was likely to delay, as the time of operation was later.
3. No significant relation was observed between rate of successful bone formation in the clefts and the sex of the patient or the type of clefts.
