Bone augmented with allograft onlays for implant placement could be comparable with native bone

Abstract

Purpose: Bone allograft onlays have great potential in alveolar bone augmentation. However, no comparable cohort study is available in the literature showing whether implants placed in bone augmented with allograft onlays would have a success rate comparable to those placed in native alveolar bone. The objective of the cohort study was to investigate whether the quality of bone augmented with allograft onlays was sufficient to place dental implants and achieve success rates comparable to those in un-grafted bone.

Materials and Methods: Two cohort studies were performed in 46 and 369 patients, respectively. In the first study, the quality and quantity of bone augmented with allograft onlays (21 patients received 68 allograft onlays) were assessed and compared with those of native alveolar bone (25 patients) using histologic techniques. In the second study, the performance of implants placed in allograft-augmented bone (16 patients) was assessed and compared with implants placed in autograft-augmented bone (43 patients) and native alveolar bone (310 patients).

Results: The first study showed no significant differences (P = .33) in bone volume between bone augmented with allograft onlay and native alveolar bone. The second study showed that the success rates of implants placed in native bone (95.8%), autograft-augmented bone (96.4%), and allograft-augmented bone (96.8%) were similar to one another.

Conclusion: The quantity and quality of allograft-augmented bone are similar to those of host native alveolar bone, and the success rate of implants placed in allograft onlays is comparable to those placed in autograft onlays or native alveolar bone.