Ridge preservation utilizing an alloplast prior to implant placement--clinical and histological case reports.

A calcified copolymer alloplast (Bioplant HTR, Bioplant Inc., South Norwalk, CT) was utilized to fill osseous defects in five patients. Hard tissue cores were obtained from the grafted sites and prepared for biopsy. In one patient, the lining of a soft tissue flap was biopsied 8 months postgrafting. Histological evaluation of the specimens revealed that the copolymer particles placed adjacent to the bony defect walls served as an osteoconductive material in which vital remodeling bone and marrow formed and fused to the surface of the particles. This process of bone deposition and remodeling was present 11 years following grafting.