Transpositional flap technique for mandibular vestibuloplasty.

Various surgical techniques for a mandibular vestibuloplasty have been advocated. A transpositional labial flap technique used by us for 23 patients since May 1976, and based on a procedure described by Edlan, has been presented with results of nine-month follow-up examinations of six patients. Clinical, radiographic, and histological evaluations completed at three-month intervals showed that this transpositional vestibuloplasty compared favorably with other similar techniques in postoperative time of healing, condition of attached mucosa, stability of increased vestibular depth, and amount of resorption of labial bone. Advantages of this procedure over other mandibular vestibuloplasty techniques are its simplicity, low morbidity, decreased operating time, feasibility of use of local anesthesia and conscious sedation on an outpatient basis, and elimination of the need for a graft. The disadvantage of the procedure is that it requires healthy preexisting vestibular mucosa for optimal results.