Increasing the Width of Keratinized Mucosa in Maxillary Implant Areas Using a Split Palatal Bridge Flap: Surgical Technique and 1-Year Follow-Up.

Sufficient soft-tissue coverage of maxillary implant sites may be difficult to achieve, especially after bone augmentation. The use of vestibular flaps moves keratinized mucosa (KM) toward the palate and may be disadvantageous for future peri-implant tissue stability. This study describes a new split palatal bridge flap (SPBF) that achieves tension-free wound closure and increases the KM width in maxillary implant areas. We began SPBF surgery with a horizontal incision in the palatal soft tissue to create a split-thickness flap. The second incision was performed perpendicular to the first, using a bridge design, at a distance of 10 to 15 mm. The superior layer can be moved crestally and sutured to cover the soft-tissue defect. The defect width was measured using a periodontal probe. The inferior layer was left exposed, and secondary wound healing created new KM in this region. This SPBF technique was performed on 37 patients. Of these, 16 patients were included in the assessment of clinical peri-implant outcomes. All of the SPBF procedures successfully resulted in a palatal regeneration of KM through secondary wound healing (mean regeneration width, 4.51 ± 1.17 mm; range, 3-6 mm). The 1-year follow-up of 16 patients revealed a mean pocket probing depth of 3.22 ± 0.6 mm with zero cases of peri-implantitis. The vestibular KM width at the involved implants was 2.82 ± 1.07 mm (range, 1.5-6 mm). Surgery for SPBF may be a promising technique for covering soft-tissue defects and increasing KM width in maxillary implant surgery.