Maintenance of Regenerated Bone Beneath Pontics: Preliminary Clinical Report of 43 Sites

Ridge augmentation was achieved through the use of guided bone regeneration procedures in pontic areas of 43 planned fixed prostheses. Measurements taken through templates, which fit over the final fixed prostheses, at the time of prosthetic placement and a mean of 123 weeks after prosthesis placement demonstrated a change of less than 0.1 mm in buccopalatal dimension of the regenerated hard tissues. Keywords: esthetic surgery, Gore-Tex, grafting, guided bone regeneration