Visor osteotomy augmentation of the mandible with posterior onlay bone graft or with hydroxylapatite: A comparative study

Abstract

A frequent and severe ridge atrophy, the anterior spheroid basal bone with posterior bilateral concavities of the mandible, has been defined. Two groups of sixteen patients who had residual ridge augmentation of the mandible with two different techniques were studied. The visor osteotomy with posterior hydroxylapatite was superior to the visor with posterior onlay bone graft in terms of ridge form, bone resorption, patient satisfaction, and neurosensory disturbances. Nevertheless, there remained some problems of anterior resorption and backward rotation of the visor segment for both techniques and of posterior resorption with the partial onlay bone graft.