COLLAGEN MEMBRANE BARRIER THERAPY TO GUIDE REGENERATION IN CLASS-II FURCATIONS IN HUMANS

THIS STUDY WAS UNDERTAKEN to evaluate the effectiveness of resorbable collagen membranes in guided tissue regeneration. The study participan ts were 38 adults with moderate to advanced periodontitis. Each patien t had at least one Class II furcation defect which could serve as eith er a test or control tooth. The cases were randomized prior to selecti on, so that investigators did not know whether the patient would be a test case or a control case until the time of surgery. Sites were surg ically exposed and measurements were recorded from the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ) directly coronal to the furcation area to the alveolar crest, and to the base of the defect. Horizontal furcation measurement s were also made, using a color coded furcation probe. The test patien ts had a trimmed and shaped collagen membrane barrier placed over the prepared furcation area. The control patients received the identical s urgical management, except that no collagen membrane barrier was place d. All patients received normal post-surgical care, and at 12 weeks po st-surgery, were scheduled for re-entry surgery. The re-entry mucoperi osteal flaps were designed to expose the furcation area for measuremen ts, as described above. There was clinical improvement in all measurem ents made in both the test and control patients over the 3-month perio d. The horizontal furcation measurement and the CEJ to base of alveola r defect measurements did yield a statistically significant improvemen t when comparing the test patients to the controls.