The purpose of this study was to evaluate the early wound healing events of bone around press-fit titanium implants inserted with and without the concurrent application of a combination of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I). Nine months prior to implant placement all mandibular premolar teeth were extracted in 8 beagle dogs. Subsequently, 40 specially manufactured titanium implants with 2 transverse holes in the apical section were press fit into precise recipient sites in the dogs' mandibles. The dogs were sacrificed at 7 and 21 days following implant placement yielding 12 PDGF-B/IGF-I treated and 8 control (placebo gel or non-treated) implants for each observation period. Coded undecalcified sections were analyzed for: 1) percentage of implant surface in contact with new bone; 2) percentage of peri-implant space filled with new bone; and 3) percentage of implant hole filled with new bone. An analysis of variance was used to determine significant differences among the treatment groups. At 7 days, the percentage of bone fill in the peri-implant spaces and the percentage of implant surface in contact with new bone were both significantly increased in PDGF-B/IGF-I treated sites (P less than 0.01 for both groups). There was less than 1.5% fill of the implant holes in both treated and control sites (no significant differences). At 21 days the percentage of bone fill in the peri-implant spaces was significantly increased in the PDGF-B/IGF-I treated sites (P less than 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)