Delayed replantation after submucosal storage in order to prevent root resorption after replantation. An experimental...

The purpose of this study was to determine the root resorption pattern of teeth autotransplanted to a submucosal site and to determine whether root resorption after replantation could be prevented by delayed replantation of teeth after submucosal storage in order to regenerate damaged periodontal ligament. Permanent teeth were extracted in green Vervet monkeys. One group of teeth was transplanted to a submucosal site and examined histologically in situ. Another group of teeth was autotransplanted to submucosal sites, recovered and replanted either 2 or 6 weeks later. The animals were sacrificed 8 week after replantation and examined histometrically. The following histologic parameters were registered: surface resorption, inflammatory resorption, replacement resorption (ankylosis), periapical inflammatory changes and downgrowth of pocket epithelium. Teeth autotransplanted to submucosal sites developed surface and inflammatory resorption. In half of the cases where teeth were transplanted with a vital periodontal ligaments new formation of bone took place adjacent to the transplant. Delayed replantation after submucosal burial was not found to inhibit the development of ankylosis, but changed the resorption type from direct apposition of bone upon the root surface to apposition of bone after initial resorption.