Mending with Hard Tissue Augmentation: A Perioesthetic Approach

Background: Alveolar ridge deficiency can be due to many causes like infection, trauma, and tooth loss. This will create an anatomically unfavorable condition for the placement of implant-supported prosthesis, for which complete construction of alveolar bone with variable regenerative surgical procedures have become more accurate. This guided bone regeneration (GBR)-based surgical technique can be attempted either during implant placement or priorly to give proper restoration with longer and extensive prognosis. Aim: This case report explains the hard tissue augmentation procedure with autogenous monocortical block bone graft harvested from the mandibular symphysis region. Case description: A 22-year-old male patient came to the department of periodontics with a complaint of missing right central incisor for the past 2 months. On examination, Seibert's class III alveolar ridge deficiency with moderate depth was observed in the region of missing tooth. Conclusion: Augmentation of the height and width of the alveolar ridge defect (Seibert's class III ridge deficiency) using an autogenous chin graft has been applied in this patient. After few months, a significant increase in the area of the ridge defect was achieved. Clinical significance: A combination of block graft obtained from the symphysis, along with osseous coagulum, is a predictable technique in augmenting atrophic ridge deficiency. It is still considered the gold standard compared with other grafting procedures. Ridge augmentation in the anterior region for this patient provided sufficient bone volume for implant placement as well as an esthetically satisfactory appearance.