Title: The buccal fat pad free graft; a new free fat tissue graft in the oral cavity
Abstract:
Soft tissue grafting is an extremely versatile procedure that has many uses, and it is a common procedure in the oral cavity. Different types of soft tissue shortages are found, and the most common is related to the teeth, dental implants, bone augmentations, gingival recessions and different soft tissue defects. Different techniques have been described to reconstruct deficient soft tissue volume and quality, and includes: Free gingival grafts, connective tissue grafts, tissue expanders, distraction tissue genesis, skin grafts,acellular dermal matrix allografts, tissue-engineered products, repositional flaps, roll flaps, and different intraoral pedicled grafts. The concept of transplanting autogenous fat as a free graft is well documented in cosmetic surgery. The free fat tissue graft (FFG), that is harvested from the BFP (BFFG), is a new soft tissue graft in dentistry. The BFFG was first introduced by me as a clinical innovation at the 26 annual meeting of the academy of osseointegration in Washington DC 2011. Kablan and Laster in their report(2012), discussed the harvesting technique, the clinical and histological healing of the free fat graft in the oral cavity. The BFFG can be used in different clinical applications in the oral cavity that includes; bone augmentation procedures, socket preservation, gingival recessions, ridge deformities, flappy ridge, around dental implants, peri-implant lesions, and in reconstruction of different areas after resectionof oral lesions. The easy and fast access to the BFP,the nice graft volume that may obtained, the minimal morbidity of the donor site, the manipulation of the BFFG at the recipient site, and the fibrous healing of the BFFG, make the BFFG an extremely attractive soft tissue graft in the oral cavity. At this meeting I will present the technique of the BFFG and its clinical applications. The clinical and histological healing of the BFFG are also described.
