Dental implants in alveolar cleft patients: a retrospective study

Since 1994, 15 cleft patients have received dental implants after treatment of the alveolar clefts by osteoplastic measures. Altogether 23 dental implants were undertaken. Twelve implants were inserted after tertiary osteoplasty, 7 with simultaneous repeat-osteoplasty, and another 4 implants following two-stage re-osteoplasty. In 11 patients with a total of 17 implants clinical and radiological follow-ups were performed. An individual crown was constructed on each of the implants. The radiological evaluation revealed that 70% of the implants were fully embedded in bone. All implants except one remained in situ and stable. Thus, the success rate was 96% retention. It is believed that a dental implant in the alveolar cleft may be lost because of its unfavourable location in terms of stability and function or because it was inserted too late. Scars resulting from previous surgery can also play a role in the failure of an implant. Therefore it is proposed that dental implants should not be inserted later than 6 to 8 weeks following osteoplasty of the cleft alveolus.