Complete spontaneous bone regeneration following partial mandibulectomy

Bone formation in small deposits following the loss of part of the mandible has often been reported in the literature, but reports of complete bone regeneration extending over the entire anterior mandible from angle to angle is rare. Even rarer, are reports on the behaviour of such new bone in terms of facial development, over a long term and the effect of load carrying on it. Presented here is an unusual case of bone regeneration after resection of a large portion of the mandible in a 12 year-old female patient with ameloblastoma in the anterior mandible. Inter-maxillary fixation, bone grafting, or insertion of any kind of implant was not employed. Spontaneous bone regeneration was noted six weeks after surgery, and the entire resected portion of the mandible completely regenerated when the patient was seen again six years later. Mandibular growth was not significantly affected and thirteen years after her treatment, including five years of partial denture usage over the new bone, the shape of the mandible is satisfactory without any evidence of bone resorption. The periosteum was totally preserved, perhaps accounting for the complete bone regeneration and normal mandibular growth and form.