A stent for a split-thickness skin graft vestibuloplasty

Area of Science:

• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Plastic Surgery
• Biomaterials Engineering

Background:

• Vestibuloplasty requires intimate contact between split-thickness skin grafts and periosteum for successful graft integration.
• Achieving this critical contact can be challenging with conventional surgical techniques.
• A reliable method for creating a stent that ensures graft-to-periosteum contact is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel method for fabricating a surgical stent that guarantees intimate contact between a split-thickness skin graft and the underlying periosteum during vestibuloplasty.
• To describe a procedure that simplifies the creation of a well-fitting stent intraoperatively.

Main Methods:

• The described procedure involves utilizing an overextended impression to capture the surgical site anatomy.
• A custom-made acrylic resin base is fabricated from this impression.
• Two distinct techniques for modifying the acrylic base with a secondary impression to form the final stent are detailed.

Main Results:

• The presented method allows for the formation of a stent that ensures the necessary intimate contact between the graft and periosteum.
• The use of an overextended impression and custom acrylic base facilitates precise stent adaptation.
• Intraoperative modification with a secondary impression provides flexibility in stent formation.

Conclusions:

• The described stent fabrication technique effectively meets the critical requirement of intimate graft-to-periosteum contact in vestibuloplasty.
• This method offers a practical and adaptable approach for creating custom stents to improve surgical results in vestibuloplasty procedures.