Interesting Facts About Bone Grafting

Can Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Affect Patients With Bone Grafts Of Bovine Origin ?

Bovine bone is one of the most popular xenogenic bone substitute used for regenerative procedures. Several patients and dentists are concerned over the transmission of cattle diseases to the human recipient. Risk assessment studies by A. Sogal and A.J. Tofe concludes that "Based on the risk analysis, it is evident that the risk of BSE infection from BGS is several orders of magnitude less than that posed by the risk of death related to, lightning, tornadoes, or similar remote events. However, this low risk can only be maintained as long as an effective and active risk management program is implemented in operations that involve processing xenogenic tissue for human use." Journal of Periodontology September 1999, Vol. 70, No. 9, Pages 1053-1063 , DOI 10.1902/jop.1999.70.9.1053

What Is The Thickness Of Cortical Plate ?

The average thickness of buccal cortical plate in dentulous mandible is 2.76 mm (± 0.13 mm) while in edentulous mandible is 2.52 mm (± 0.32 mm). The study was performed on cadevors.All these cases exposed the inferior alveolar nerve. So the safer side would be to keep the thickness below the mentioned data. 

http://www.joponline.org/doi/abs/10.1902/jop.2009.090417

Can A Previous Donor Site Be Used Again For Bone Harvesting ?

5 patients underwent bone grafting from symphyseal region. 5 months later there was a need to harvest more bone for implant placement. As the are showed new bone formation in the previous site, once again the bone was harvested from the same area, months later the implants were placed. Both the areas, the donor site and implants site showed proper healing. It can be concluded that bone can be harvested once again from the previous donor site. 
Journal of Periodontology 2009, Vol. 80, No. 5, Pages 865-869 , DOI 10.1902/jop.2009.080602

Novel Technique Of Bone Harvesting For Implant Placement

A new technique has been devised by Kyung-Gyun Hwang, Kwang-Sup Shim, Seung-Min Yang,and Chang-Joo Park that utilizes only the cortical bone of the ramus. This technique overcomes the drawbacks associated with conventional techniques e.g. postoperative pain and swelling to impaired inferior alveolar nerve function. The chances of inferior alveolar nerve damage are abolished because the strategic choice of the site. It is a safe, predictable and reproducible technique for bone harvesting.
Journal of Periodontology 2008, Vol. 79, No. 5, Pages 941-944 , DOI 10.1902/jop.2008.070408

By: Dr. Hamid Raihan
Jaipur Dental College
Jaipur.