[Treatment of class II furcation involvement: guided tissue regeneration with atelocollagen membrane]

To evaluate the effectiveness of guided tissue regeneration (GTR) on class II furcation involvement with absorbable atelocollagen membranes made in China.

GTR was performed on 26 sites with class II furcation defect in 17 patients. Clinical measurements and digital subtraction radiography were used to evaluate the effect.

Clinical measurements showed significant attachment gain, significant decrease of probing depth (PD) and horizontal probing depth (HPD) at 3, 6, and 12 month after surgery. The mean reduction of HPD were 1.8 mm, 2.2 mm, 2.5 mm at 3 month (23 sites), 6 month (12 sites), and 12 month (6 sites) after surgery respectively. PD decreased by 1.22 mm, 1.56 mm and 1.75 mm. Attachment gained by 1.17 mm, 2.11 mm and 1.75 mm. Three sites showed complete defect fill during 3 to 12 months after surgery. Only 1 mm or less could be probed horizontally in another 4 furcation lesions during 3 to 12 months post-operation. The HPD of pre-operation in these 7 cases were 2.0 mm to 4.0 mm, and the bone defects observed during surgery were smaller in these cases than in other cases. The other 19 furcation involvement improved significantly. The result of digital subtraction radiography showed that increase of bone density was found at 2 months after surgery. The amount of bone gain increased with time. The areas of increased bone density were 0.3-25.7 mm2 in 13 teeth.

The class II furcation involvement can be treated by GTR with absorbable atelocollagen membranes with good results.