CASE REPORT article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
This article is part of the Research TopicMultidimensional Study on the Development and Regeneration of Dental and Maxillofacial TissuesView all 4 articles
Innovative Reconstruction Protocol for Complex Alveolar Ridge Defects in Posterior Mandible: Case Report and Technical Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jilin University Stomatology Hospital, Changchun, China
- 2Eye and Dental Diseases Prevention and Treatment Center, Shanghai, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Knife-edge ridges in posterior mandible present challenges for implant placement due to insufficient horizontal bone width and inadequate keratinized tissue, traditionally requiring secondary donor site surgery with associated morbidity. Case Description: A 46-year-old female with severe mandibular atrophy underwent two-stage reconstruction. First-stage surgery involved harvesting bone blocks from the knife-edge ridge, rotating them 180° counterclockwise, and securing for horizontal augmentation. After seven months, second-stage surgery included implant placement with platelet-rich fibrin soft tissue augmentation using open-suture technique. Outcomes demonstrated horizontal bone gains of 4.3-4.8 mm, keratinized tissue increase of 2.9 mm, and absolute bone volume gain of 859.86 mm³. All three implants achieved successful osseointegration. Practical Implications: This novel staged protocol integrates in situ bone grafting with PRF-based soft tissue augmentation, specifically designed for posterior mandibular knife-edge ridges. By systematically combining these techniques, it eliminates donor site morbidity while achieving clinically significant tissue augmentation, offering practitioners a comprehensive autologous reconstruction approach that addresses the unique anatomical constraints and dual tissue deficiencies characteristic of this challenging region.
Keywords: knife-edge ridge, in situ bone grafting, keratinized gingivaaugmentation, open-suture technique, Platelet-rich fibrin
Received: 27 Aug 2025; Accepted: 30 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Feng, Jia, Chen, Ren, Han, Li, Zhang and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yidi Zhang
Yanmin Zhou
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.