title: Periodontal regeneration: myth or reality?
abstract: One of the goals of periodontal therapy is regeneration. During the past 20 years, several materials and techniques have been developed and tested for enhancing periodontal regeneration. This paper evaluates flap debridement, allogenic and alloplastic grafting, and the use of nonresorbable and resorbable barrier membranes as regenerative techniques. One of the most predictable regenerative therapies is treatment of the three-walled intrabony defect. This defect can be repaired with 2 to 2.5 mm of bone fill and results in significant gains in clinical probing attachment and decreases in probing depths. There is a slightly greater improvement in periodontal measures with barrier membranes. Commercial preparations of allogenic bone and alloplastic fillers have a long, safe history of use and are primarily osteoconductive. They decrease probing depths and provide short-term gains in clinical attachment levels. Barrier membranes provide short-term evidence of improving Class II furcation invasions, however there is insufficient evidence that these improvements are sustained long-term. Class III furcations are not predictably treated by regenerative therapies. To date, there is an absence of clinical evidence that regenerative therapy increases the long-term life span of teeth.
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California School of Dentistry, USA.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Becker
mesh_terms: D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000601:surgery; D000818:Animals; D001861:Bone Regeneration; D018786:Bone Substitutes; D016025:Bone Transplantation; D016557:Guided Tissue Regeneration, Periodontal / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D012038:Regeneration; D013524:Surgical Flaps
chemical_list: D018786:Bone Substitutes; D008567:Membranes, Artificial