Effectiveness of buccal pouch grafting in minimizing loss of alveolar dimension: A canine investigation

Abstract

Background: The study’s purpose was to study buccal pouch grafting (BPG) with xenograft,
freeze‑dried bone allograft (FDBA), or FDBA + decalcified FDBA (DFDBA) on alveolar ridge width
preservation and overlying soft tissue thickness at dog premolar extraction sites.
Materials and Methods: In this animal study, 4 dogs had their mandibular first premolar (P1) and
distal roots of P2, P3, and P4 extracted (after endodontic treatment of the mesial roots) bilaterally.
A small buccal pouch was created at each extraction socket and four treatments tested: nothing,
xenograft, FDBA, or FDBA + DFDBA. Casts made pretreatment and at 1 and 3 months after
treatment allowed measurements of buccolingual alveolar ridge width (BLRW), while overlying buccal
soft tissue thicknesses were measured clinically. Data were assessed using analysis of variance to
compare changes in soft tissue thickness and BLRW between times and treatments. Tukey–Kramer
adjustment for multiple comparisons was applied for doing post hoc, pairwise comparisons. Results
were considered significant if P < 0.05.
Results: Control sites showed significant (P = 0.0067) decreases in soft tissue thickness over time
while there was a trend for increased soft tissue thickness at all grafted sites. There were significant
losses in BLRW over time for control (P = 0.0032) and FDBA groups (P = 0.015) with a trend for
loss with FDBA + DFDBA. Pairwise comparison using Tukey–Kramer adjustment revealed significant
increases in BLRW from T1 to T3 for the xenograft group relative to all the others.
Conclusion: BPG using xenograft is effective in maintaining hard and soft tissue stability following
tooth extraction.
Key Words: Allografts, osteogenesis, soft tissue