Lateral Ridge Splitting (Expansion) With Immediate Placement of Endosseous Dental Implant Using Piezoelectric Device: A New Treatment Protocol.

Many treatment modalities have been introduced for correction of deficient alveolar ridge width. Bone expansion through the ridge split procedure is one of them. This technique was initiated in order to overcome many problems that usually associated with grafting procedures. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of piezoelectric device in performing ridge split using single-stage approach and assessed the outcomes during a period of about 4 months after surgery. A total of 23 patients aged in range between 18 and 60 years underwent ridge split procedure with immediate insertion of dental implants. A panoramic radiograph was obtained before surgery. The gained bone was measured and surgical complications were recorded. Implants stability was measured using Osstell device. Postoperative clinical complications were assessed. After a healing period of 16 weeks, all the implants were uncovered and evaluated regarding clinical, radiographic, and resonance frequency analysis findings. The totally implemented ridge split procedures were 26 cases including 57 implants inserted immediately at the time of surgery. The initial ridge width varied between 1 and 3.5 mm while the final width ranged from 5.5 to 8 mm. The minimum bone gain was 2.5 mm and the maximum value reached up to 7 mm. Few and insignificant clinical complications were recorded during the whole study. The survival rate was 100%. The study results indicated that piezoelectric ridge splitting technique is an effective, safe, and minimally invasive procedure. This technique has showed to be very successful in reducing the overall treatment period.