Bone resorption after advancement genioplasty. Pedicled and non-pedicled grafts

The influence of soft tissue attachment in augmentation genioplasty on the amount of postoperative bone remodelling was studied in 29 patients. The soft tissue was completely detached from the advanced genial segment in 15 patients and the lingual soft tissue was maintained in 14 patients. The advancement of the chin and postoperative bone remodelling was analysed by measuring linear distances and areas on lateral cephalograms. The genial segments with a soft tissue pedicle underwent significantly less resorption than the free grafts (p less than 0.01). The difference in postoperative infection between the two groups (p less than 0.05) indicates that the likelihood of postoperative infection is significantly reduced by maintaining the soft tissue pedicle. Considerably less variation in amount of bone resorption was also observed in the patients with a pedicled graft.