Longitudinal changes in the height and location of bone bridge from autogenous iliac bone graft in patients with cleft lip and palate

Background: Secondary alveolar bone graft has been widely used for the closure of maxillary bone defects in patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP). However, the log-term stability of grafted bone in detail remains unclear. Purpose: To evaluate the nature of longitudinal changes in the grafted bone from autogenous iliac bone in patients with CLP for more than 2 years after the surgery. Methods and Subjects: The subjects were 124 CLP patients treated with iliac bone graft in Hiroshima University Hospital from 1997 to 2007. The height and location of the bone bridge was evaluated radiographically before and after surgery. Results: 1) Bone graft was performed at a mean age of 12.5 (±4.2) years old. The canines on the cleft side were not erupted at the surgery in 60.0%. All canines erupted except for the congenital missing and impacted ones (11.3%) within 2 years after bone graft; 2) The height of the bone bridge was more than 11 mm in 71.8% of all patients 1 month after surgery. In addition, the location of bone bridge in 66.1% of all patients were clinically satisfactory. However, these rates decreased time-dependently owing to bone resorption after the bone graft. Conclusions: In conclusion, it is shown that autogenous bone graft produce a sufficient bone bridge in the jaw cleft area by the long-term evaluation of the changes in height and location of bone bridge, although some amount of time-dependent bone resorption is inevitable.