Fibular Free Flap Reconstruction of the “True” Lateral Mandibular Defect

Dental rehabilitation in 101 primarily reconstructed jaws after segmental resections – Possibilities and problems. An 18-year study

“…The same observation has been emphasized by Schliephake et al (1995Schliephake et al ( , 1996. In studies including all patients the dental rehabilitation rates vary a lot, for mandibles from 20 to 71% (Anthony et al, 1997) and even 100% (Weischer and Mohr, 1999;Chana et al, 2004) and for maxillae from 66 to 70% (Triana et al, 2000;Peng et al, 2005).…”

“…Others in addition pay attention even to financial resources (Urken et al, 1998) or if the patients have agreed to participate in the study (Hidalgo and Pusic, 2002). Some papers do not mention what kind of prostheses, if any, that were provided (Anthony et al, 1997;Werkmeister et al, 1999). Recurrence of malignancies after 12 months 9 Patients with a residual number of teeth, reporting tolerable function and refraining from further treatment 9 Edentulous patients, finding further treatment with dental rehabilitation unbearable 7 Other diseases (three patients with malignancies in other regions and three patients with non-malignant diseases, e.g., heart failures) 6 Additional operations have postponed dental rehabilitation 5 Patients report reasonable function with residual number of teeth, but desire and are planned to receive implants and fixed bridge 3 Loss of grafts 2 Insufficient amount of bone in grafts (radius flaps to mandibles) 2 Insufficient retention for removable dentures in edentulous maxillae, reconstructed with soft tissue flaps 2 Too short interval (12 months).…”

Reconstruction of lateral through and through oro‐mandibular defects following oncological resections

“…9 The reconstruction of lateral mandibular defects is still debated. 10 The main objectives in such reconstructions are maintaining oral competence and bite force, facilitating mastication, and providing satisfactory esthetic results. 11 The use of free bone-containing flaps is the first choice for achieving these goals.…”

Prognosis as a determinant of free flap utilization for reconstruction of the lateral mandibular defect

“…8 The fibular osteocutaneous free flap offers the advantage that the cross-sectional area of the fibula approximates the cross-sectional area of the midbody of the mandible and is ideally suited for placement of osseointegrated implants for dental rehabilitation. 9 In addition, the segmental periosteal perforators of the fibula from the peroneal artery allow multiple osteotomies of the fibula, so that the fibula can be shaped into a neomandible.…”