Effect on bone formation of the autogenous tooth graft in the treatment of peri-implant vertical bone defects in the minipigs

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of autogenous tooth bone as a graft material for regeneration of bone in vertical bony defects of the minipigs. Material and Methods: Six minipigs were used in this study. Four molars were extracted in the right mandibular dentition and sent to the Korea Tooth Bank for fabrication of autogenous tooth bone. Ten days later, each extraction site was implanted with MS Implant Narrow Ridge $3.0{\times}10mm$ fixture (Osstem, Seoul, Korea) after standardized 2mm-sized artificial vertical bony defect formation. Pineappleshaped Root-On type autogenous tooth bones were applied to the vertical defects around the neck area of the posterior three fixtures and the fore-most one was not applied with autogenous bone as a control group. Each minipig was sacrificed at 4, 8, 12 weeks after fixture installation and examined radiologically and histologically. Histological evaluation was done under light microscope with Villanueva osteochrome bone staining with semi-quantitative histomorphometric study. Percentage of new bone over total area (NBF) and bone to implant contact (BIC) ratio were evaluated using digital software for area calculation. Result: NBF were $48.15{\pm}18.02%$, $45.50{\pm}28.37%$, and $77.13{\pm}15.30%$ in 4, 8, and 12 weeks, respectively for experimental groups. The control group showed $37.00{\pm}11.53%$, $32.25{\pm}26.99%$, and $1.33{\pm}2.31%$ in 4,8,12 weeks, respectively. BIC ratio were $53.08{\pm}19.82%$, $45.00{\pm}28.37%$, and $75.13{\pm}16.55%$ in 4,8,12 weeks, respectively. Those for the control groups were $38.33{\pm}6.43%$, $33.50{\pm}29.51%$, and $1.33{\pm}2.31%$ in 4, 8, 12 weeks, respectively. Conclusion: Autogenous tooth bone showed higher score than control group in NBF and BIC in all the data encompassing 4,8,12 weeks specimens, but statistically significant only 12 weeks data in both NBF and BIC.