Histological and histomorphometric analysis of bone tissue using customized titanium meshes with or without...

To date, no clinical studies have investigated the effect of using resorbable collagen membrane in conjunction with customized titanium mesh to promote bone formation in guided bone regeneration. Therefore, a non-inferiority analysis (one-sided 95% CI approach) was designed to compare the augmented bone gained using meshes with and without collagen membranes, through histological and histomorphometric investigations.

Thirty patients undergoing bone augmentation procedures at both maxillary and mandible sites were randomly treated with customized titanium meshes alone (M-, n = 15) or covered with resorbable membrane (M+, n = 15), in both cases filled with autogenous bone and xenograft. After 6 months of healing, bone tissue biopsies were taken from the augmented region. The bone tissue (B.Ar), grafting material (G.Ar), and non-mineralized tissue (NMT.Ar) areas were quantified through histomorphometric analysis, as were the osteoid area (O.Ar) and its width.

Collagen membrane did not appear to significantly influence the investigated parameters: B.Ar, G.Ar, NMT.Ar, and O.Ar were similar between Group M- (34.3%, 11.5%, 54.1%, 1.95 μm² , respectively) and Group M+ (35.3%, 14.6%, 50.2%, and 1.75 μm² , respectively). Considering the overall population, significantly higher rates of newly formed bone were obtained in mandibular sites, while non-mineralized and dense connective tissue rates were higher in the maxilla (p < .05).

The application of collagen membrane over titanium mesh did not lead to significant results. Bone formation appeared significantly different in the maxilla compared with the mandible. Additional studies are required to further investigate the issues observed.