Evaluation of an In Situ Hardening β-Tricalcium Phosphate Graft Material for Alveolar Ridge Preservation. A Histomorphometric Animal Study in Pigs

Minas Leventis; George Agrogiannis; Peter Fairbairn; Orestis Vasiliadis; Danai Papavasileiou; Evangelia Theodoropoulou; Robert Horowitz; Demos Kalyvas

doi:10.3390/dj6030027

Evaluation of an In Situ Hardening β-Tricalcium Phosphate Graft Material for Alveolar Ridge Preservation. A Histomorphometric Animal Study in Pigs

Dent J (Basel). 2018 Jul 2;6(3):27. doi: 10.3390/dj6030027.

Authors

Minas Leventis¹, George Agrogiannis², Peter Fairbairn³, Orestis Vasiliadis⁴, Danai Papavasileiou⁵, Evangelia Theodoropoulou⁶, Robert Horowitz⁷, Demos Kalyvas⁸

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Experimental Surgery and Surgical Research N. S. Christeas, Medical School, University of Athens, 75 M. Assias Street, 115 27 Athens, Greece. mlevent@dent.uoa.gr.
² Department of Pathology, Medical School, University of Athens, 75 M. Assias Street, 115 27 Athens, Greece. agrojohn@med.uoa.gr.
³ Department of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of Detroit Mercy, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard, Detroit, MI 48208, USA. peterdent66@aol.com.
⁴ Laboratory of Experimental Surgery and Surgical Research N. S. Christeas, Medical School, University of Athens, 75 M. Assias Street, 115 27 Athens, Greece. orestis@vasiliadis.net.
⁵ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental School, University of Athens, 2 Thivon Street, 115 27 Athens, Greece. d.pap.mes@gmail.com.
⁶ Laboratory of Experimental Surgery and Surgical Research N. S. Christeas, Medical School, University of Athens, 75 M. Assias Street, 115 27 Athens, Greece. eva_theod@yahoo.gr.
⁷ Departments of Periodontics, Implant Dentistry, and Oral Surgery, New York University College of Dentistry, 345 E 24th Street, New York, NY 10010, USA. rah7@nyu.edu.
⁸ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental School, University of Athens, 2 Thivon Street, 115 27 Athens, Greece. demkal@dent.uoa.gr.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a resorbable alloplastic in situ hardening bone grafting material for alveolar ridge preservation in a swine model. Seven Landrace pigs were used. In each animal, the maxillary left and right deciduous second molars were extracted, and extraction sites were either grafted with a resorbable alloplastic in situ hardening bone substitute, composed of beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) granules coated with poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA), or left unfilled to heal spontaneously. Animals were euthanized after 12 weeks, and the bone tissue was analyzed histologically and histomorphometrically. Linear changes of ridge width were also clinically measured and analyzed. Pronounced bone regeneration was found in both experimental and control sites, with no statistically significant differences. At the experimental sites, most of the alloplastic grafting material was resorbed and remnants of the graft particles were severely decreased in size. Moreover, experimental sites showed, in a statistically nonsignificant way, less mean horizontal dimensional reduction of the alveolar ridge (7.69%) compared to the control sites (8.86%). In conclusion, the β-TCP/PLGA biomaterial performed well as a biocompatible resorbable in situ hardening bone substitute when placed in intact extraction sockets in this animal model.

Keywords: Alveolar ridge preservation; animal study; bone regeneration; bone substitutes; β-tricalcium phosphate.