Twelve months clinical comparison between modified Widman flap with or without enamel matrix derivative for the treatment of infrabony defects

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to compare at 12 months after the surgery the treatment of deep infrabony defects with modified widman flap (MWF) to the treatment with the enamel matrix protein derivative. Materals and methods: 5 male and 9 female with severe periodontitis were treated either with modified widman flap alone or with enamel matrix derivatives (EMD) (Emdogain®, Straumann AG, Waldenburg, Switzerland). This was a randomized controlled longitudinal clinical trial of 12 months duration. Using a split-mouth design, each site was randomly assigned to treatment with modified widman flap alone or with EMD. All patients underwent initial therapy one month prior to surgery. Results: At twelve months after the therapy, the sites treated with MWF showed a reduction in probing pocket depth (PPD) from 8.25 ± 1.84 mm to 3.79±0.95 mm and a change in clinical attachment level (CAL) from 9.66±1.82 mm to 5.21±1.78 mm. In the group treated with EMD, the PPD was reduced from 8.5±1.4 mm to 4 ±1.6 mm and the CAL changed from 10.3±2.28 mm to 6.05±1.96 . Conclusion: within their limits, the present results indicate that: (i) at 1 year after surgery both therapies resulted in significant PD reductions and CAL gains, and (ii) the combination of modified widman flap with enamel matrix protein derivative does not seem to additionally improve the clinical results.