[Resection prosthetics for free bone transplantation. Prerequisites for establishing a bone transplantation concept of the mandible]

The present paper examines the development of dental and surgical methods for the reconstruction of bone defects in the lower jaw. Starting with the resection-prosthesis we highlight important stages of bone transplantation in the lower jaw. Until 1914, actually no concept existed for reconstruction of continuity in the lower jaw. Only when dentists and surgeons started working together in the First World War, a bone-transplantation concept for the lower jaw could be elaborated.