SUB-PONTIC TISSUE ENLARGEMENT BENEATH THE IMPLANT SUPPORTED FIXED PARTIAL DENTURE: PART 1
S ubpontic tissue enlargement (STE), the cause of which is still unclear, is known by many names: osteoma, 1 subpontic hyperostosis, 2–5 plateauization, 6 subpontic osseous proliferation, 7 subpontic bony deposition, 8 reactive subpontine exostoses, 9 and subpontic osseous hyperplasia. 10–14 The characteristic feature of STE is slow and spontaneous bone growth, which is in most cases found in the posterior region of the mandible under the pontic of a fixed partial denture (FPD). The present report illustrates a case of STE under-neath a implant-supported FPD that had been for 11 years. Other case of STE under IS-FPD, which appeared eight years later. Surgically excised bone tissue emerged as STE. The authors believe that the cause of STE in the present case was not only biomechanical loading to the mandible, but also included other factors such as chronic irritation and genetic predisposition....