Evaluation of the Efficacy of Porous Titanium Granules in the Treatment of Periodontal Intrabony Defects: A Preliminary Report.

Background and objectives: Applications of porous titanium granule (PTG) in periodontal (furcation defects) and non-periodontal treatments have shown promising results. However, its role in periodontal intrabony defects still remains unexplored. Thus, we aim to assess the feasibility of PTG in obtaining reconstruction in intrabony defects and compare the outcome with that of open flap debridement (OFD).

Methods: Ten patients (three females and seven males) with a mean age of 34.7 years who constituted twenty (20) bilateral intrabony defects were recruited. Each patient contributed to two defects which were randomly treated by OFD alone (control group) or by OFD followed by grafting with PTG (test group). All the clinical and radiological parameters were recorded at baseline, three, six and nine months and statistically analyzed.

Results: The results of this study demonstrated that in clinical parameters there is no significant differences in the improvement from baseline to nine months. However, regarding the radiographic defect fill, there was significant gain from baseline to nine months only in the PTG sites.

Conclusion: Within the limits of our study, the results of this trial indicate that reconstructive periodontal surgery with PTG offers minimal radiographic defect resolution with no significant improvements in clinical endpoints compared to open flap debridement.