Individual "alveolar phenotype" limits dimensions of lateral bone augmentation

Area of Science:

• Dental implantology
• Bone regeneration
• Periodontology

Background:

• Alveolar ridge resorption after tooth extraction often necessitates lateral bone augmentation.
• Some patients experience significant early or late graft resorption, impacting treatment outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if individual phenotypic dimensions influence early and late graft resorption after lateral bone augmentation.
• To explore the relationship between pre-existing bone dimensions and graft stability.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 17 patients (23 augmented sites) who underwent guided bone regeneration (GBR).
• Cone-beam CT (CBCT) scans at multiple timepoints were used to measure graft resorption.
• Individual phenotypic dimensions (IPD) of the contralateral alveolar crest were used as a reference to quantify resorption (E_res and L_res).

Main Results:

• Initially, augmentations were approximately ±1 mm outside the IPD after early healing (E_res).
• After 1.5 years, 85% of the grafts showed resorption towards the IPD, settling within 0.5 mm.
• This indicates a tendency for bone grafts to adapt to the patient's native bone dimensions over time.

Conclusions:

• The dimensions of lateral bone augmentation appear to be constrained by the patient's individual phenotypic bone boundaries.
• Understanding these individual bone dimensions may be crucial for predicting graft behavior and optimizing augmentation procedures.