The use of the buccal fat pad for guided bone regeneration in posterior maxilla: Review of the literature and report of 2 cases

Abstract

For the successful guided bone regeneration(GBR) of maxillary bony defect, proper soft tissue coverage is one of the most important things. Soft tissue dehiscence can be most common reason of osseous reconstruction failure. If a vascular supply to the graft should not develop from the host tissue, then the graft may also foil. Both of these prerequisites can be aided by judicious use of the buccal fat pad(BFP). Many methods for adequate soft tissue coverage have been proposed and the use of the BFP is one of them. BFP is useful in posterior maxillary area, can cover larger area and have higher blood flow than other methods. so the use of the BFP may offer protection and early blood supply to maxillary bone graft. This report describes the history, anatomy, blood flow, and clinical usefulness with two clinical cases.