[Prosthetic and surgical options in the rehabilitation of the after-effects of alveolar clefts].

The question of final-phase treatment and prosthetic rehabilitation is posed for the young adult patient who has followed a program of surgical, orthopedic, and orthodontic work aimed at achieving a functional, aesthetic balance. When a toothless space has been maintained or recreated between the proximal teeth of each fragment, two solutions are at hand for the expert odontologist: implantology, or traditional joint prosthesis. Four problems are evoked here to describe the difficulties related to this therapeutic decision: confrontation of the banks, residual osseous defect, teeth bordering the cleft, and the odontologist's role in the overall responsibility for the patient. The choice of the final surgical and prosthetic context induces a multifactor analysis, and must be integrated early on, as part of a multidisciplinary therapeutic strategy. Psychological acceptance is thereby favored, along with the rational search for a durable, aesthetic result.