Transplantation of free tibial periosteal graft on alveolar bone defect in adult rabbit.

The healing of bone defect in eight adult rabbits was studied. The age range of animals was 5-23 months. The bone defects were made symmetrically in the inferior surface of the mandibles. At the defect site the root surface of continuously erupting mandibular incisors was exposed. On the left side, the bone defect was covered with a local periosteal flap (control side) and on the right side the defect was covered with a free periosteal graft from the tibia (test side). The healing of bone defects and the amount of new bone were studied. The quality of the bone formed was investigated histologically. The findings of this investigation led to the following conclusions: (1) The bone defects healed on both sides. The amount of bone on the control side was identical to that in the anatomical region. On the test side the amount of bone formed was in seven cases two to threefold that formed on the control side. (2) The histological study proved that the bone formed was lamellar bone, being identical on both the control and the test side. (3) The ages of the animals or the length of follow-up time did not affect the amount of new bone, the healing of the defect or the quality of new bone. (4) The eruption of the incisors was symmetrical. In this study the free periosteal graft from the tibia led to better bone formation than the local periosteal flap in the induced bone defects of the tooth-bearing region in the mandible of the adult rabbit.