Papilla preservation technique combined with Emdogain in the treatment of intrabony defects: a novel treatment regimen for chronic periodontitis.

BACKGROUND

Regenerative therapy with enamel matrix proteins derivative (EMD) was shown to induce periodontal regeneration in intrabony defects. However, the contribution of papilla preservation technique (PPT), to the clinical outcome of regenerative therapy is still not clarified. Therefore, we conducted the present study to evaluate clinically measurable results of a combined therapy by PPT and EMD in the treatment of isolated intrabony defects.

METHODS

Sixty isolated intrabony defects in 25 patients were surgically assessed with EMD and PPT. The clinical parameters: clinical attachment level (CAL), probing depth (PD) and gingival recession (GR) were evaluated at baseline and at three years.

RESULTS

The primary outcome variable was CAL. The sites treated with enamel matrix proteins demonstrated mean CAL change from 6.6+/-1.2 mm to 3.4+/-1.3 mm (p<0.001) and the mean PD was reduced from 5.9+/-1.0 mm to 2.7+/-0.8 mm (p<0.001) after three years. The mean GR decreased from 0.71+/-1.2 mm to 0.64+/-1.1 mm (p<0.821).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the present case cohort study indicate that PPT combined with EMD resulted in significant improvement of the clinical parameters in the treatment of intrabony defects in chronic periodontitis.