[Cranial bone graft in oral and maxillofacial surgery]

The sufficient donor bone volume is important to restore congenital, developmental and accidented defects of facial skeleton. In recent years, the outer table of cranial bone, as a better donor source, has been used in maxillofacial and craniofacial surgery extensively. But no clinical report was found in China. In this paper 16 cases were reported (5 cases of alveolar cleft, 5 cases of secondary deformity after cleft palate and ankylosis of TMJ, 6 cases of developmental deformity of jaws). All of these cases were treated by using cranial bone graft in strips or bone dust during orthognathic operations. The result showed no any complications in all cases. Compared with iliac and rib grafts, the outer table of cranial bone graft showed distinct advantages: greater graft volume survival, little postoperative pain at the donor site, and the skin incision within the hairline.