Guided bone regeneration with titanium membranes: a clinical study

Guided bone regeneration using barrier membranes is useful in bone augmenta tion. Because the commonly used polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, Gore-Tex(R), WL Gore, Flagstaff, AZ, USA) membranes or resorbable membranes tend to col lapse, more stable membranes are desirable. A titanium membrane (FRIOS(R) B oneShield, Friatec, Mannheim, Germany) was evaluated in a clinical study of 52 patients. Most of them had particulate bone grafts or phycogene hydroxy apatite (Algipore(R), Friatec, Mannheim, Germany) or both stabilized with t itanium membranes. In 78 procedures, 23 membranes (29%) became exposed, but only seven of these (9%) led to failure of the graft with a considerable l oss of augmented material. The time interval between operation and possibly exposure was responsible for the result, Early exposures (within a few wee ks) led to poor formation of new bone within the grafts, whereas if exposur e was later, results were as good as in procedures in which the membranes d id not become exposed.