Restoration of mandibular jaw defects in the rabbit by subperiosteally implanted Teflon® mantle leaf

Abstract

The present investigation was undertaken to study the healing pattern of mandibular jaw defects where one or two lateral bone walls were missing. The bone regeneration between contralateral defects was compared; in one jaw the defects were covered with perforated mantle leaf of Teflon®, in the contralateral jaw the defects were left uncovered. Eighteen adult white rabbits were used for the study. Experimental standardized defects with respectively one and two lateral bone walls missing were made in the mandibular base area. On one side the defects were covered with subperiosteally implanted perforated mantle leaf before suturing the soft tissue. The bone healing was followed during 52 weeks and three different fluorochromes were administered at 2, 4, 6, 12, 26 and 52 weeks in order to estimate the activity and source of the bone regeneration during different time periods. Specimens were obtained both for paraffin sections and ground sections. Light microscopic and fluorescence microscopic examinations were made of the sections. Healing of defects covered with subperiosteally implanted Teflon mantle leaf showed almost complete bone regeneration of both two-wall defects and three-wall defects, whereas in the contralateral jaws the uncovered two-wall bone defects showed incomplete healing of the defects with a central part of fibrous connective tissue. The three-wall defects without mantle-leaf cover, on the contrary, healed with almost complete bone regeneration; only a small concavity in the normal outline of the bone could be seen. It seems as if subperiosteally implanted mantle-leaf cover prevents formation of a fibrous scar tissue and allows the bone regeneration to proceed and fill up the two-wall defects completely.