Contiguous autogenous transplant--nineteen years' clinical and radiographic follow-up: a case report

Contiguous autogenous transplant, also known as the bone-swaging procedure, is a technique aimed at regenerating lost periodontium. Clinical healing of bony defects after bone swaging has been satisfactory, but the relationship and mode of attachment between the bone graft and the root surface have not been fully investigated. A 19-year clinical and radiographic follow-up of a bony defect treated with the bone-swaging technique is presented. A significant coronal increase in bone height and a gain in clinical probing depth were achieved postsurgery and remained unchanged during the first 6 years. The long-term clinical and radiographic findings, however, indicated that the attachment developed at the root-bone interface may not have been a true attachment and may have been more vulnerable to pathogenic local agents. These observations may help the clinician to interpret the clinical and radiographic changes that occur in the area of a bony defect following the use of a bone graft.