Postoperative Healing Stents

Postoperative Healing Stents

• Aim to promote healing and minimize complications following surgical procedures.

Stents for Plastic Surgery of the Oral Mucosa

• Used in intra-oral surgeries, such as vestibuloplasty (sulcus deepening procedure) or removal of soft tissue malignancy.
• Required to maintain skin grafts in place until revascularization occurs from the underlying raw area (skin or mucous graft inlay stent).
• Used after ridge augmentation.

Palatal Stent (Palatal Pressure Plate)

• Functions:
  • Apply pressure to soft tissues after surgery to facilitate healing and prevent collapse.
  • Facilitate hemostasis and avoid hematoma formation.
• Used after surgeries in the palate, such as tori removal, palatal mucosal grafting, or removal of impacted canine or large cyst in the palate.

Anti-Hemorrhagic Stent

• Used to control bleeding after tooth extraction in patients with:
  • High bleeding tendency (e.g., leukemic patients).
  • Clotting problems (e.g., hemophilic patients).
• In patients with high bleeding tendency, the stent applies pressure over the extraction socket to stop bleeding until the late coagulation mechanism starts.

Fabrication of Anti-Hemorrhagic Stent

• Upper and lower impressions are made before surgery.
• Impressions are poured to obtain casts, which are mounted in centric relation using an inter-occlusal record.
• The tooth to be extracted is removed from the stone cast.
• A layer of molding wax is adapted to cover the lingual, buccal, and top surface of the ridge.
• The articulator is closed to allow the opposing teeth to touch the top of the wax.
• The wax is processed in clear heat-cured acrylic resin or cold-cured resin.
• The stent is inserted immediately after extraction, where bleeding is controlled as the patient closes and applies gentle pressure over the extraction site.
• The stent gains its retention by using wrought wire.