Martin Chin

• Attending Surgeon at California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco

Two common dentoalveolar defects are managed by a novel treatment approach. This article explains how the underlying mechanism that regulates bone physiology can be recruited to improve the response to surgical healing and presents the theoretical basis of this treatment method. Modern investigators have revealed the likely anatomic pathways throug...

A case involving concomitant presentation of a #7 lateral facial cleft with a complete cleft of the ipsilateral lip, alveolus, and palate is presented. The mandibular defect was Pruzansky III with a foreshortened body, absent ramus and absent masseter. Taking advantage of developmental field theory, reconstruction of the osseous defect was undertak...

Traditional bone grafting relies upon the incorporation of a bone-cell bearing structure into a recipient site. The graft serves as a scaffold that is eventually replaced and remodeled. This process is known as osteoconduction. Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) is commercially available as an acellular implant in which the pr...

This article demonstrates the feasibility of using recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein (rhBMP-2) as a substitute for autogenous iliac crest bone for repair of congenital facial clefts in humans. In this series, 50 cleft sites were repaired in 43 patients using rhBMP-2 without the use of autogenous graft tissue. Successful osseous union was...

Fourteen patients underwent Le Fort III midface advancement using distraction techniques. Six have cephalometric documentation extending beyond 1 year postoperatively, and the positions of cephalometric points A and orbitale over time are reported here. Excellent stability of advancement at the occlusal level and some relapse at the level of orbita...

Distraction osteogenesis has emerged as an important surgical modality in the management of complex problems of the cranio-maxillofacial skeleton. In combination with the standard LeFort III osteotomy it offers the potential of significantly improved results in the treatment of severe midface hypoplasia. Moreover, it has become common for the autho...

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the potential advantages of applying distraction osteogenesis techniques to the correction of orbital and midfacial hypoplasia in craniosynostosis syndromes. Fifteen children with various craniosynostosis syndromes underwent Le Fort III advancement assisted by gradual distraction utilizing a pair of inte...

The purpose of this report is to demonstrate a practical clinical method for advancement of the midface using a combination of Le Fort III osteotomy and gradual distraction. Use of internal, submergible distraction devices and modification of the Ilizarov distraction protocol are presented. Case reports show the effect of departing from the Ilizaro...

The purpose of this report is to show the feasibility and potential advantages of using internal devices for distraction osteogenesis in the management of maxillofacial skeletal deficiencies. Distraction osteogenesis was used to correct a variety of maxillofacial skeletal deformities in five patients. One patient underwent bilateral Le Fort III adv...