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This one is about: What is a Periostoplasty?
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What is a periostoplasty?
Joanne from Wide Smiles gives the Short answer:
Fixing the cleft in the gum.
Dr. Kirt Simmons, Wide Smiles Consultant gives The Long answer:
To be a little more specific- (without trying to be TOO technical)- it is an operation,
usually done at an early age (but not necessarily), where the surgeon peels the
gum AND the tissue (very thin) that actually covers the bone (called the
"periosteum") away on both sides of the cleft and attaches the periosteum of the
two sides together (i.e. "periosteum"-"plasty", a "plasty" is a general term to
describe a surgery where something is modified, like "rhinoplasty"= "nose job") and
the gum together over that. NO BONE is introduced into the "space", the intent of
the operation is to ALLOW the body to fill in the space with bone since the "soft"
tissues between the bones is no longer between them and there is now continuity
of the sack around the bones. If you'll allow me the analogy- sort of like peeling
back the wrapper at one end of two candy bars and sewing the wrappers together,
leaving the candy bars touching each other. You have created a situation where,
under the proper circumstances, (like heat maybe and/or pressure with the candy
bars) they could fuse (melt) together and hopefully become one big candy bar.
Kirt Simmons DDS PhD - [email protected]
Wide Smiles Orthodontic Consultant
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11/15/2011