Case Details

The patient has a very thin alveolar ridge (4 mm) that was not able to allow placement of the desired size dental implants without some type of bone augmentation procedure to increase the bone width or thickness. Therefore, a ridge splitting procedure was performed involving cutting the bone beginning from the crest of the ridge (top) and going apically (towards the bottom) for a span (length) to accommodate 3 dental implants. The bone is then carefully expanded (with an eventual gain of an additional 4 mm totally a ridge width of 8 mm) and is followed by the placement of 3 dental endosteal or root-form implants. At a later time, once adequate healing or sufficient osseointegration and bone growth has occurred the area is exposed and the oral prosthesis (3 splinted crowns) is delivered and connected to the implants.

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