A morphometric evaluation of allograft matrix combinations in the treatment of osseous defects in a baboon model

Recent and ongoing research efforts have been made to increase the efficacy of biomaterials as structural fillers during in vivo bony reconstructions. Although the selection of the possible material choices has grown, a biomaterial that can be physically molded to the defect/void space as well as offer biomimetic tissue regeneration has yet to be made available. With the potential success of demineralized freeze-dried bone allografts (DFDBA) combined with tendonous collagen as an effective filling material, further research should help to elucidate its use. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the regenerative healing response of five allograft mixtures via the morphology of filled, periodontal defects. Critical size mandibular and maxillary osseous defects were surgically created in six adult baboons. The filling response of four combinations of DFDBA and tendon collagen was compared with an all-collagen graft after 3 months of implantation. The overall results indicate that all combinations of DFDBA and collagen provided a better fill response than the all-collagen matrix (P < 0. 05). Statistically, however, all of the combinations were similar (P > 0.05) with a 60:40 collagen to DFDBA mass ratio resulting in the largest defect fill response.