Use of Cone-beam Computed Tomography in Regenerative Treatment of Residual Bone Gaps around Implants: A Feasibility Study

Objective: The cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) has been recently used to monitor changes in alveolar bone. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of the use of CBCT in assessment of osseous regeneration with different regenerative materials around immediate implants. Materials and Methods: Twenty implants were immediately placed after extraction in the anterior maxilla of eight systematically healthy patients. One group received bovine-derived xenograft (BDX) (n=10); and the other group was treated with demineralized freeze-dried allograft (DFDA) (n=10). Patients in both groups also received platelet-rich plasma. Clinical measurements and CBCT analyses were performed at the day of implant placement (baseline) and after 9 months just before placement healing abutments. The intragroup change was analyzed by ANOVA test. The clinical and CBCT measurements were compared with Pearson correlation analysis. Results: Clinical measurements demonstrated that the defect depth and width improved with a similar gain compared to baseline in both BDX and DFDA-treated sites (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between two different bone substitutes clinically. CBCT measurements revealed a significant bone gain for both graft-treated gaps, compared to baseline (p<0.05) with no difference between groups. Clinical measures and CBCT values were highly and significantly correlated (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the CBCT may be a reliable method for evaluation of the change over time for the regenerative procedures around dental implants.