Freeze-dried bone for maxillary sinus augmentation in sheep. Part II: biomechanical findings

This study examines the biomechanical loading capacity of dental implants placed in the posterior maxilla in conjunction with subantral augmentation with either homogeneous demineralized freeze-dried bone from sheep (s-DFDB) or heterogeneous demineralized freeze-dried human bone (h-DFDB) as grafting material in sheep. In 36 adult female mountain sheep, the Schneiderian membrane was elevated extraorally in both maxillary sinuses, and two titanium plasma-flame-sprayed cylindrical implants were inserted in each lateral antral wall. Three groups of 18 maxillary sinuses each were augmented with s-DFDB, h-DFDB and autogenous bone from the illiac crest, respectively. In the remaining 18 sinuses, the subantral hollow space was left empty. Pull-out tests were carried out after intervals of 12, 16 and 26 weeks. The mean pull-out force needed, irrespective of time, was 259.3 N in the empty control group, 356.7 N in the group augmented with autogenous bone, 278.1 N in the test group augmented with h-DFDB and 365.2 N in the group augmented with s-DFDB, revealing no significant difference between the individual groups (P > 0.05). The implants of the group augmented with autogenous bone showed an increase in the mean pull-out force from 223.8 N after 12 weeks to 523.7 N after 26 weeks. The nonaugmented control group yielded values of 248 N after 12 weeks, which rose to 269.8 N at the last test, while the values of the h-DFDB group increased from 275.4 N to 325.4 N. The highest initial pull-out values were obtained in the s-DFDB group. They amounted to 310.5 N after 12 weeks and rose to 481.4 N after 26 weeks. Time thus proved to have a significant influence on the pull-out forces (P = 0.014) with a statistically proven linear trend (P = 0.007). The findings of this experimental study indicate that the use of homogeneous DFDB in one-stage sinus lift procedures results in a mechanical loading capacity of implants comparable to that achieved by autogenous cancellous bone from the iliac crest. In contrast, the use of heterogenous-DFDB resulted in only slightly higher pull-out forces than those observed in the nonaugmented control group after 26 weeks.