HISTOLOGIC EVALUATION OF GUIDED TISSUE REGENERATION USING 4 BARRIER MEMBRANES - A COMPARATIVE FURCATION STUDY IN DOGS

THIS STUDY EVALUATED AND COMPARED four different barrier membrane mate rials used to treat class LI mandibular premolar and molar furcations in seven dogs with naturally occurring periodontitis. Five class II fu rcation defects in each animal were randomly assigned to one of four e xperimental groups or to a control group. Each defect was treated by s urgical debridement, root planing, and barrier membrane coverage with one of the four test materials or no barrier membrane (control). Thus, each animal served as its own control. Following 6 months of healing, block sections were used to histologically measure the amount of rege nerated tissue and stereometrically enumerate the inflammatory cell in filtration observed with each of the treatment modalities. The four ba rrier membrane materials (polycarbonate filter, silicone rubber, expan ded polytetrafluoroethylene, and polycaprolactone) all provided a woun d healing environment that promoted new cementum formation, with mean values ranging from 1.96 +/- 0.031 mm to 2.18 +/- 0.015 mm, and facili tated alveolar bone regeneration, with mean values ranging from 1.18 /- 0.019 mm to 1.44 +/- 0.014 mm. Control-treated sites showed mean va lues of only 0.24 +/- 0.007 mm new cementum formation and 0.32 +/- 0.0 17 mm bone fill. Polycarbonate filter and polycaprolactone membrane ba rriers elicited a significantly greater chronic inflammatory cell resp onse of lymphocyte and plasma cell infiltrates as compared to expanded polytetrafluoroethylene and silicone rubber, which were comparable to control-treated sites.