This study describes a successful case report of a severely resorbed mandible rehabilitated with autogenous free bone grafts from the iliac crest and dental implants with five year follow-up of the prosthetic result. Recommendations for cases with similar resorption rate in the mandible are emphasized based on the current literature and the results of this case.

A fifty-six year old female seek for dental treatment in the Center for Studies and Improvements in Dentistry (CEAO, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil), presenting a severely resorbed mandible in the vertical aspect in September/2005. She had totally edentulous superior and inferior arches and sustained a bone reconstruction with a rib graft fifteen year previously, without dental implant insertion and gross resorption in the mandible, showing 2–3 mm of vertical height in the pre-op images (Orthopantomography and CT-scan). Treatment plan offered and accepted by informed consent was a free iliac crest bone graft for vertical augmentation followed by dental implants and an inferior overdenture.

Six months following bone graft with minimal resorption, patient received 4 titanium rough surface fixations of 13 mm length each. After osseointegrated (five months after surgery), a total inferior arch overdenture was delivered, restoring speech, chewing and esthetic conditions previously lacking and enhancing quality of life for the patient. Implants are uneventfully in function for five years, with annual clinical and radiographic follow-up. Considerations of bone grafting for the mandible, resorption rates and dental implant survival and success rates for the grafted mandible sites are emphasized, with special focus on predictability.

Conflict of interest: None declared.