Periodontally diseased tooth roots used for lateral alveolar ridge augmentation. A proof-of-concept study

To assess the efficacy of periodontally diseased tooth roots used as autografts for lateral ridge augmentation and two-stage early osseointegration of titanium implants.

Ligature-induced periodontitis lesions were established at the maxillary premolars in n = 8 foxhounds. Extracted, scaled and root planed pre-molar roots (PM-P) as well as retromolar cortical autogenous bone (AB) blocks were used for horizontal ridge augmentation of mandibular chronic-type defects. At 12 weeks, titanium implants were inserted and left to heal for another 3 weeks. Histological analyses included crestal ridge width (CW), augmented area (AA) and bone-to-implant contact (BIC).

Both PM-P and AB grafts were gradually organized and replaced by newly formed bone. Median CW (PM-P: 3.83 versus AB: 3.67 mm), AA (PM-P: 10.18 versus AB: 9.82 mm(2) ) and BIC (PM-P: 50.00% versus AB: 35.21%) values did not reach statistical significance between groups (p > 0.05, respectively). Histologically, PM-P grafts were not associated with any inflammatory cell infiltrates.

PM-P autografts may reveal a structural and biological potential to serve as an alternative autograft to AB.