Preaugmentation Soft Tissue Expansion: A Report of Four Pilot Cases

Table 1

Volume gain analysis and bone fill calculations of the study participants.

Expansion zone	Initial expander volume	Final expander volume	Total expansion days	Expansion days as recommended by the manufacturer for the specific final volume	Soft tissue volume gain	Success of expansion	Augmentation dimension	Amount of bone fill in the vertical direction	Amount of bone fill in the horizontal direction
Right posterior mandible (Case 1)	0.25 ml (250 mm^3)	1.3 ml (1300 mm^3)	60 days	60 days	755.9 mm^3	Successful	Vertical	8 mm	N/A
Anterior mandible (Case 2)	0.15 ml (150 mm^3)	0.7 ml (700 mm^3)	38 days	40 days	N/A	Late soft tissue expansion failure	Horizontal	N/A	Patient dropped out of the study after expansion failure
Right posterior mandible (Case 3)	0.05 ml (50 mm^3)	0.35 ml (350 mm^3)	10 days	40 days	N/A	Early soft tissue expansion failure	Horizontal	N/A	2 mm
Left posterior maxilla (Case 4)	0.15 ml (150 mm^3)	0.7 ml (700 mm^3)	40 days	40 days	436.1 mm^3	Successful	Horizontal	N/A	3 mm
Right posterior maxilla (Case 4)	0.045 ml (45 mm^3)	0.24 ml (240 mm^3)	20 days	20 days	259.4 mm^3	Successful	Horizontal	N/A	3 mm

N/A: not applicable. Both sites were in the same patient (Case 4).