VOLUMETRIC CHANGES FOLLOWING BARRIER REGENERATION PROCEDURES FOR THE SURGICAL-MANAGEMENT OF GRADE-II MOLAR FURCATION DEFECTS IN BABOONS - II - BONE, CEMENTUM, EPITHELIUM, AND CONNECTIVE-TISSUE

In Part I, a computer imaging technique was used to measure the volume tric fill that occurred in surgically created grade II molar furcation defects after they had been treated using the principles of guided ti ssue regeneration. In Part II, the volumetric fill for each of the spe cific tissues comprising the defect fill (epithelium, connective tissu e bone, and cementum) was compared. The histologic material consisted of defects treated using one df three types of surgical treatment as w ell as untreated control sites. Ail volumetric measurements were expre ssed as a percentage of the original surgically created defect size, w ith 100% indicating complete healing of the defect The results indicat e that none of the defects achieved complete healing. Teeth receiving flap debridement had the most overall defect fill (79.50% comprised of 17.13% bone, 35.81% connective tissue, 37.35% epithelium, and 9.71% c ementum). Teeth that received a biodegradable barrier showed a mean ov erall defect fill of 74.98% (7.41% bone, 47.13% connective tissue 36.2 0% epithelium, and 9.26% cementum). Sites treated with an exclusion ba rrier showed 70.75% overall fill (9.63% bone, 40.89% connective tissue 39.00% epithelium, and 10.48% cementum). The untreated control teeth showed a mean overall fill of 78.70% (5.56% bone, 59.11% connective ti ssue 31.06% epithelium, and 4.27% cementum). No significant difference s were found among teeth within the same animal and between treatment and controls. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) connective tis sue comprised nearly one half of the total fill of the surgically crea ted defects,. (2) the percentage of new bone growth was significantly lower than anticipated and (3) no significant differences were found a mong the treatment modalities and the untreated control sites for each of the specific tissue types.