Pericardium membrane and xenograft particulate grafting materials for horizontal alveolar ridge defects.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical feasibility of using a native collagen physical resorbable barrier made of bovine pericardium to augment localized alveolar ridge defects for the subsequent placement of dental implants. MATERIALS & METHODS There were 8 systemically healthy patients with 19 implant sites (aged 35 to 68 years), with inadequate dental alveolar ridge widths, selected for study. All patients completed initial therapy, which included scaling, root planning, and oral hygiene instruction. All ridge defects were augmented with bovine xenograft and a collagen pericardium membrane. Horizontal (width) hard tissue measurements were taken the day of ridge augmentation surgery, or implant placement and augmentation (baseline), and at the 6-month (reentry or uncovering) surgery. RESULTS The change in ridge width varied from a loss of 0.2 mm to a gain of 7.8 mm, measured clinically with a mean value of 3.0368 and a median of 2.8 mm from baseline. CONCLUSIONS The results suggested that pericardium collagen membrane may be a suitable component for augmentation of localized alveolar ridge defects in conjunction with different xenografts.