[Total atrophy of the mandibular alveolar crest. A new therapeutic proposal (the use of a tissue expander) and a clinical case report].

Atrophy of the alveolar crest, meant as a syndrome due to a certain variety of pathogenetic episodes developing in a more or less marked framework of resorption of the alveolar to the maxillary processes, represents an issue of debated and uncertain solution, especially in a view of the extreme degrees of the phenomenon. Various kinds of surgical approach have been suggested over time: among them mention should be made of the onlay graft technique, the osteotomy intervention visor type, the osseous interposition sandwich type, and other methods, which were often the result of a pontered mediation of the above mentioned, and which should have therefore enjoyed their single advantages. In consideration of the different techniques, the results were more or less noteworthy and it was clear, however, that a certain "gap" was still existing between the results aimed to and the results reached. Today, thanks to the tissue-expander technique, combined with the use of alloplasty materials (hydroxylapatite), we can give a new contribution to the solution of this invalidating pathology, thus reaching more complete and lasting results in the plastic reconstruction of the alveolar crest, and avoiding at the same time the disadvantages, even of iatrogenic kind, of an osteotomy intervention.