A Retrospective Tomographic and Histologic Analysis of Horizontal Bone Augmentation in Maxillary Atrophic Ridges...

A total of six patients treated from 2010 to 2014, having a knife-edge ridge (Cawood-Howell Class IV resorbed ridges) and requiring an implant-prosthetic rehabilitation, were selected. Tomographic measurement of the edentulous ridges was performed before grafting and after implant placement. At 6 months postgraft, a total of 41 implants had been inserted, 17 in the posterior region, 12 in the central region, and 12 in the anterior region. No surgical or healing complications were recorded, and the prostheses were loaded 6 to 9 months after implant placement. The tomographic measurements demonstrated an increased area in all the sites where bone augmentation had been performed, corresponding to 11.1% in the anterior region, 94.7% in the central region, and 760.2% in the posterior region. Histology was performed in 2 patients, one at 1 year and the other at 5 years postgrafting, and demonstrated the presence of mature lamellar bone tissue and newly formed bone without morphologic signs of necrosis or inflammation and a reduction of 50% to 30% of the grafted material. Although this study included a small number of clinical cases, it demonstrated how management of the atrophic maxillary ridge, with the goal of implant placement, may be handled using a technique that requires a single anorganic bovine bone-derived mineral treatment combined with a plasma rich in growth factors and resorbable collagen membrane.