Materials and Methods

This study was designed as a retrospective multicenter case series trial and was conducted according to Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Guidelines. All patients received thorough explanations of the protocol and signed a written informed consent form prior to enrollment. The study participants were 13 males and 22 females with an age range of 43 to 76 years. The inclusion criterion was bone atrophy in local edentulous areas of the posterior maxilla or mandible, with a crestal bone height< 5 mm coronal to the mandibular canal. All patients had to be systemically healthy nonsmokers with acceptable or good oral hygiene and the absence of periodontal disease. Thirty-five consecutive partially edentulous patients were treated with VRA in the posterior maxilla or mandible using GBR with autologous bone and anorganic bovine bone material (ABBM)(Bio-Oss, Geistlich Pharma) from July 2014 through March 2015. The patients were treated at Científica del Sur University, Lima, Peru, and the Institute for Training and Development in Oral Implantology, Bogota, Colombia.

The patients required vertical bone regeneration to achieve the necessary bone level to place dental implants and to improve the crown/implant ratio. Patients in good physical health who possessed the ability to maintain good oral hygiene were treated with the new titanium-reinforced d-PTFE membranes (Cytoplast Ti-250 Titanium-Reinforced Membrane, Osteogenics Biomedical) and bone grafting.