A retrospective study of the potential complications during alveolar distraction osteogenesis in 55 patients

The aim of this retrospective study was to analyse the outcome of alveolar distraction osteogenesis for the correction of vertical defects in a large series of 55 cases. The existing bone deficiencies were secondary to atrophy after periodontal disease or tooth extraction. The overall success rate of this technique was 89.1%. The complications presented during treatment were divided into minor (no effect on final result, but immediate intervention required) 14/55 patients (25.4%), and major (lead to technique failure) 6/55 patients (10.9%). The frequency of minor complications was 8/27 in the anterior maxillary region, 1/27 in the anterior mandibular region and 15/27 in the posterior mandibular region. The frequency of major complications was 5/6 in the posterior mandibular region and 1/6 in the anterior maxillary region. The mean alveolar height achieved was 6 mm. The overall rate was 36.3%. On the basis of these results it was concluded that alveolar distraction osteogenesis is an effective technique to treat vertical alveolar ridge deficiencies.