Autogenous Tooth Bone Graft and Simvastatin Combination Effect on Bone Healing

Autogenous tooth bone grafts (ATGM) are materials prepared from extracted teeth and have been used for bone augmentation. These graft materials are known to have similar structures and components to bone grafts. In this sense, this study aimed to evaluate all the tooth layers mixed with simvastatin without any demineralization process effect on bone formation.

In 60 Wistar albino rats, a standardized 6.0 m-diameter critical size bone defect was created in their calvarium. The study consists of 1 control and 4 experimental groups. In the control group (12 rats), the defects were left empty. The defects were grafted only with ATGM in Group 1, with ATGM mixed with simvastatin in Group 2, autogenous bone graft mixed with simvastatin in Group 3, and with xenogenic bone graft mixed with simvastatin in Group 4. The animals were sacrificed at the 7th and 28th days after operation.

PCR, micro CT and histological results show that bone formation was enhanced in the experimental groups in comparison to the control group. Group 1 and Group 2 had similar bone formation rate when compared to Group 3 and Group 4 at the 28th day after operation.

This study concludes that mineralized teeth may be used for defect reconstruction without any demineralization process. Autogenous mineralized tooth bone graft should be mixed with simvastatin for bone regeneration like other grafts.