Statement of problem: Because alveolar bone augmentation in women with osteoporosis/osteopenia has an uncertain prognosis, objective and reliable methods should be used to study standard surgical approaches.
Purpose: The purpose of this clinical study was to evaluate bone regeneration 9 months after bone augmentation and implant placement in postmenopausal women with different levels of systemic bone health by using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) and to test proof of concept for this measurement approach.
Material and methods: A subset of 14 participants was analyzed in a best practice study of postmenopausal women receiving dental implants and simultaneous horizontal ridge augmentation. Women were categorized as osteopenic/osteoporotic or normal based on the results of preoperative dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. All implant study sites received a particulate graft and/or buccal plate expansion. The study sites were evaluated with CBCT preoperatively, immediately postoperatively, and 9 months postoperatively. Nonparametric statistics were used for all analyses. The related samples Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to assess the differences in bone width between time points (α=.05 for all tests).
Results: After 9 months, 13 out of 14 participants showed increased bone width compared to the preoperative baseline measurements. The increase was statistically significant for the participants with osteoporosis/osteopenia (P=.007), but not for those with normal bone health (P=.066). The CBCT scans showed that mineralized tissue buccal to the implant surface had the radiographic appearance of mature bone.
Conclusions: CBCT showed evidence of bone regeneration, with an increase in alveolar ridge width in postmenopausal osteopenic/osteoporotic women subsequent to surgical reconstruction.
Copyright © 2015 Editorial Council for the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.