A retrospective risk factor analysis of infection and wound dehiscence following guided bone regeneration in cystectomy defects of the jaws.

This study's objective is to determine if the combined use of bone substitutes and collagen membranes is related to worse postoperative outcomes after intra-osseous oral cystectomies. Additional risk factors mentioned in the existing literature were retrospectively analysed by reviewing the medical records and imaging tests of adult patients. Age, gender, smoking habit, cyst location, size, shape, histopathology, perilesional osteosclerosis and associated intracystic third molars were registered. The type of biomaterials applied and the number of bony walls remaining after surgery were also identified. All factors were analysed in relation to wound dehiscence and postoperative infection. Simple and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to exclude possible confounding effects between the risk factors identified. In a sample of 211 cystectomies, guided bone regeneration was not significantly associated with infection, only the presence of impacted third molars was (p = 0.0219). This finding remained true, even in cysts larger than 25 mm. However, the risk of wound dehiscence was 4.9 times higher when biomaterials were applied (CI 95%, 1.6818-12.8274, p = 0.0014). In accordance with recent studies, these findings suggest that whenever guided bone regeneration might prove useful after cyst enucleation, avoiding chemically cross-linked membranes should be considered.