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Updated: May 13, 2026
Engineered Vascularized Muscle Flap
Published on: January 11, 2016
Comparison of soft tissue healing around implants in beagle dogs: flap surgery versus flapless surgery
Qun Lei1, Jiang Chen, Jianhui Jiang
1School of Stomatology, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to compare soft tissue healing after implant placement in flap and flapless surgery in the dog model.
Study Design:
Mandibular premolars were extracted from 10 beagle dogs. The extraction sockets were allowed to heal for 8 weeks. After healing, 3 implants on each side of the mandible were implanted using either flap or flapless techniques. One implant was installed on each side at the 0-, 4-, and 6-week time point. Eight weeks later, the peri-implant soft tissue healing was subjected to clinical and immunohistochemical analysis.
Results:
It was revealed that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, peri-implant crevicular fluid (PICF) volume, and the aspartate aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase activity in PICF increased significantly in the 2-week flap group compared with the 2-week flapless group. Microvascular density and VEGF expression in the 8-week flap group was statistically significantly lower than the 8-week flapless group and normal group. Buccal gingival recession was less pronounced in the flapless group than in the flap group after 4 and 8 weeks.
Conclusions:
Within the limits of this study, the results demonstrate that flapless surgery contributes to better esthetic outcomes in implants compared with the flap approach.
