Histological and histomorphometric analysis of bone tissue after guided bone regeneration with non-resorbable membranes vs resorbable membranes and titanium mesh.

Background: Guided bone regeneration (GBR) allows to achieve vertical ridge augmentation whether with nonresorbable membranes or resorbable membranes with Ti-mesh, but till now no studies are published comparing histological and histomorphometrical outcomes of these two procedures.

Materials And Methods: Forty partially edentulous patients required vertical bone regeneration to place implants in the posterior mandible: 20 patients were randomly assigned to group A (Ti-PTFE); while 20 patients to group B (Collagen plus Ti-mesh). For both groups, graft material was a 50:50 mixture of autogenous bone and bone allograft. After 9 months, tissue biopsies were taken from augmented sites (regenerated bone ROI-1; native bone ROI-2) and undergone to histological and histomorphometric analysis. Percentages of bone tissue (B.Ar), biomaterial (Mat. Ar), and soft tissue (St.Ar) were measured; measurements of perimeters were calculated too. ROI-1 values were also compared to ROI-2 in both groups.

Results: Twenty-five samples were collected and analyzed consecutively: 13 in group A and 12 in group B. The mean B.Ar, Mat.Ar, and St.Ar were 39.7%, 8.6%, and 52.1% in group A; similar results were obtained in group B, with mean values of 42.1%, 9.6%, and 48.3%, respectively. No significant statistically differences were observed. Differences were observed between ROI-1 and ROI-2 in both group. Finally, bone structure index of ROI-1 and ROI-2 showed statistical differences.

Conclusions: The preliminary results of this study suggest that GBR using nonresorbable membranes and Ti-mesh with resorbable membranes in combination with autogenous bone and bone allograft provide similar histological and histomorphometric results.