Anterior Iliac Crest Graft Technique

The anterior iliac crest bone harvesting technique is one of the earliest innovations in oral and maxillofacial surgery. It can be used to obtain up to 50 cc per site of autogenous bone for use for various indications, such as post-traumatic defects, post-ablative defects, alveolar cleft bone grafting, and alveolar ridge augmentation. Although this procedure has remaining grossly unchanged for nearly a century, new technology has been used to augment, or in some cases replace this technique, including the use of BMAC and rhBMP-2. However, it is unlikely that these techniques will ever completely obviate the need for anterior iliac crest harvesting in oral and maxillofacial surgery.