Refined Approach to Preservation of the Inferior Alveolar Nerve during Resection and Primary Reconstruction of the Mandible.

Sacrifice of the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) during resection of the mandible is taken as a rule. In 1987, Jensen and Nock described a technique that permitted placement of dental implants in the atrophied mandibular alveolar ridge that lacked sufficient vertical height superior to the mandibular canal. This technique was used by some authors to preserve continuity of the IAN during resection of the mandible in patients with benign tumors.