Original Title: Comparison of morbidity-related parameters between autologous and allogeneic bone grafts for alveolar ridge augmentation from patients’ perspective – A questionnaire-based cohort study

Heimes D, Pabst A, Becker P, Hartmann A, Kloss F, Tunkel J, Smeets R, Kämmerer PW. Clin Implant Dent Relat Res. Published 2023 Jul 12. doi: 10.1111/cid.13242

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37438839/

Introduction: Alveolar ridge augmentation is often required before dental implant placement. In this context, autologous bone grafts are considered the biological gold standard. Still, bone block harvesting is accompanied by some serious potential disadvantages and possible complications, such as pain, bleeding, and nerve irritation. Several studies aimed to compare autologous to allogeneic bone grafts concerning bone quality and implant survival rates; this is the first prospective study analyzing and comparing morbidity-related parameters after alveolar ridge augmentation using autogenous and allogeneic bone blocks from patients’ perspectives.

Methods: 20 patients were treated with allogeneic maxgraft® bone grafts and 16 patients were treated with autologous bone grafts. Using a questionnaire, the 36 patients were asked to evaluate the surgery as well as the post-operative period concerning pain, stress, sensibility deficits, satisfaction with, and consequences from the surgery as well as the preferred procedure for future alveolar ridge augmentations.

Results: No significant differences were shown regarding stress and pain during and after surgery, whereas the rate of nerve irritations was twice as high in the autologous group. The swelling and associated discomfort was significantly higher in patients with autologous bone blocks (p = 0.001). Nevertheless, the overall satisfaction of patients of both groups was very high, with over 8/10 points.

Conclusions: The study suggests lower morbidity and less side effects after allogeneic bone grafting using maxgraft® bone blocks and maxgraft® cortico plates compared to autologous bone grafting. A shared decision should be made with the patient considering the potential side effects of each grafting material.