Clinical evaluation of the treatment of class II furcation involvements with bioabsorbable barriers alone or associated with demineralized freeze-dried bone allografts.

Abstract

Class II furcation lesions are a challenging scenario for periodontal therapy and a serious threat for tooth prognosis. Guided tissue regeneration represents a viable treatment option, but some aspects remain to be clarified as to the efficacy of bone substitutes used in GTR procedures. The clinical efficacy of demineralized freeze-dried bone allografts (DFDBA) for regenerative procedures is presently under scrutiny. This study evaluated the adjunctive clinical effects of DFDBA associated with a bioabsorbable (polylactic acid) barrier membrane in the regenerative treatment of human Class II furcation lesions as compared to the same type of barrier alone. Twelve patients with bilateral Class II furcation defects on lower first molars participated in the study. In each patient, one tooth was randomly assigned to treatment consisting of open surgical debridement followed by the placement of DFDBA (GTR+DFDBA, or test group) and a bioabsorbable barrier, while the contralateral side received the same flap surgery followed by use of the bioabsorbable membrane alone (GTR, or control group). The clinical efficacy of the 2 treatment modalities was evaluated at 6 and 12 months postoperatively. Measurements included vertical probing depth (VPD), horizontal probing depth (HPD), clinical attachment level (CAL), amount of gingival recession (GR), and change in class of clinically detectable furcation involvement (FC). Both treatments yielded significant improvements for all clinical parameters between baseline and 6 and 12 months (P<0.05). The comparison between test and control groups revealed significantly greater reduction in HPD (P=0.01) and higher values of GR (P=0.008) for the test group. The mean gain in HPD for test sites was 2.3 mm, while it amounted to 1.7 mm for controls. A significantly greater proportion of test sites could be classified postoperatively as Class I defects compared to controls (91% versus 50%, respectively). The results of this study indicate that significant improvements from baseline occurred in VPD, HPD, CAL, and clinically detectable furcation involvement after the treatment of Class II furcation lesions with a bioabsorbable membrane with or without the adjunctive use of DFDBA. In addition, the placement of DFDBA in the furcation defect under the bioabsorbable membrane resulted in a greater mean reduction of horizontal probing depth when compared to the regenerative therapy alone.