Objectives: Healing of postextraction alveolus is a complex process that involves soft and hard tissue regeneration. Pain, swelling, difficulty in opening the mouth, delayed bone tissue healing, alveolitis, and horizontal or vertical resorption of bone tissue are the main problems that impact on consequent treatment. Blood concentrates PRGF (plasma rich in growth factors) and PRF (platelet-rich fibrin), which are rich in growth factors, create better conditions for postextraction alveolus healing, enhance quality of soft tissues and bone regeneration, and decrease pain. The study objective was to compare physiologic healing of the postextraction zone with PRF- and PRGF-induced changes.
Method and materials: In total, 43 patients were randomly divided into three groups: control group (mandibular molar extraction and filling of postextraction alveolus with hemostatic sponge containing gentamicin), group 2 (postextraction alveolus filled with PRGF), and group 3 (postextraction alveolus filled with PRF). Bone regeneration was evaluated in CBCT scans after 1 month. Pain was evaluated using the visual analog scale (VAS).
Results: After evaluating VAS results 1 day after surgery the lowest pain score was in the PRGF group. Tooth alveolus vertical and diagonal dimensions in the control group were significantly (P = .017) smaller than in the PRGF group. The vertical dimension of the alveolar ridge did not change significantly (P = .859) in the PRGF group; however, it was significantly reduced (P = .04) in the PRF group. One month after surgery the age of the control group was inversely proportionally correlated with the height and diagonal dimension of callus.
Conclusion: Both blood concentrates had great anti-inflammatory properties, but PRGF had better osteoblastic properties and resulted in lower postoperative pain.
Keywords: alveolar process, bone regeneration, plasma-rich in growth factors, platelet-rich fibrin, postoperative pain, tooth socket
