Long-term clinical and radiographic results after treatment or no treatment of small buccal bone dehiscences at posterior dental implants: A randomized, controlled clinical trial.

Aim: To test whether or not buccal vertical bone dehiscences (≤5 mm) around posterior implants left for spontaneous healing (SH) result in the same clinical and radiologic outcome as dehiscences treated with guided bone regeneration (GBR) at 7.5 years after implant placement (IMPL).

Materials And Methods: Twenty-two patients receiving 28 posterior implants with a small non-contained buccal bone dehiscence (≤5 mm) were randomly assigned to the SH or the GBR group.

A randomized controlled clinical trial comparing small buccal dehiscence defects around dental implants treated with guided bone regeneration or left for spontaneous healing.

Purpose: The aim of the present randomized controlled clinical study was to test whether small bony dehiscence defects (≤5 mm) left to heal spontaneously result in the same clinical and radiological outcome as defects treated with guided bone regeneration (GBR).

Materials And Methods: Twenty-two patients who received at least one implant with a small bony dehiscence defect were enrolled in the study. If the defect height was ≤5 mm, the site was randomly assigned to either the spontaneous healing (SH) group or the GBR group.