Radiographic Evaluation of Regenerated Bone Following Poly(Lactic-Co-Glycolic) Acid/Hydroxyapatite and Deproteinized Bovine Bone Graft in Sinus Lifting

Although numerous biomaterials are used for maxillarysinus-lift surgery, the ideal material for such procedures has notyet been identified. Both heterologous and alloplastic bone substituteshave a solely osteoconductive effect and lack the osteoinductiveproperties of the bone morphogenetic proteins typical ofautologous bone. Our group assessed a new alloplastic graft material,poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid/hydroxyapatite (PLGA/HA),implanted in a human model of maxillary sinus-lift surgery. Forthis prospective, random, double-blind trial, we used deproteinizedbovine bone (DBB) as the comparison material. Radiographic bonevertical height and density were assessed at approximately 28 weeksafter grafting using cone-beam computed tomography. The verticaldimension of the regenerated bone was equivalent between the2 groups. The density of the bone regenerated using PLGA/HA wassignificantly lower than that obtained with DBB. Despite clinicalassessments demonstrating that PLGA/HA has sufficient characteristicsfor use in sinus-lift surgery, DBB provided greater bonedensity and an equivalent vertical dimension of grafted bone. Furtherstudies are needed to supplement the radiologic findings with histologicand micromorphometric examinations.