Occurrence of bone hernia during closure of an incisal space in an adult

This case was an adult who had bimaxillary protrusion and missing of the bilateral upper first incisors that passed more than 10 years after the extraction of teeth. Bone "hernia'' occurred while closing the space of upper incisors in orthodontic treatment. We stopped orthodontic treatment at one time and performed alveoloplasty for bone "hernia'' of labial alveolar bone. We grafted the bone which we gathered on a cavity of the palate and improved an alveolar bone form. We suggested that in our case, the "herniation'' of the alveolar bone occurred by the influences of the mode of the shift of the lateral incisors during orthodontic treatment and the alveolar bone configuration at the first dental examination. The active treatment period was 22 months. The patient keeps good occlusion and condition of periodontium for the 8 years following completion of active treatment. (C0 2007 Elsevier Ltd and the Japanese Orthodontic Society. All rights reserved.