title: The use of fresh-frozen bone in oral surgery: a clinical study of 14 consecutive cases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although autologous bone is considered the gold standard among the grafting materials used in implant therapy, it does have a number of drawbacks, in particular morbidity at the site of donation and the limited amount of bone available. To overcome these limitations a number of alternative bone materials have been employed in the last few years. In this study we report the results of the use of homologous fresh-frozen bone from a tissue bank in patients undergoing reconstruction of bone defects in the oral cavity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between June 2004 and October 2008, 14 consecutive patients underwent bone reconstruction with fresh-frozen bone from a tissue bank. Four to eight months after surgery, implants were placed in the newly formed bone.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No problems were recorded during the post-operative course. In all cases treatment was successful and osteointegrated implants were placed in the newly formed bone after 4-8 months. All implants showed good osteointegration (100% overall success rate, mean follow-up 20 months), allowing loading with a fixed cemented prosthesis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results support the previous findings that homologous fresh-frozen bone can be considered a valid alternative to autologous bone for the reconstruction of bone defects in the oral cavity in patients undergoing implant therapy.
authors.affiliation: Service of Immunohaematology and Transfusion Medicine, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital of Parma, Via Gramsci 14, Parma, Italy. chiara_daloja@hotmail.it
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: D'Aloja
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: D'Aloja
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Santi
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Franchini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016025:Bone Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D015925:Cryopreservation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous