Regeneration of alveolar bone following surgical and non-surgical periodontal treatment

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the regeneration of alveolar bone following surgical and non-surgical periodontal treatment. A total of 16 patients who had advanced periodontitis and demonstrated angular bony defects on radiographs participated in the study. After the initial examination, they received instruction in oral hygiene and had their teeth thoroughly scaled. When the individual patient at 2 succeeding appointments had plaque on less than 20% of the tooth surfaces, one maxillary and one mandibular quadrant was treated with the modified Widman flap procedure while one of the remaining quadrants was treated with the reverse bevel flap procedure. The last quadrant was treated with root planing under local anesthesia. None of these procedures included bone contouring. Following treatment, the patients were recalled every 2 weeks for professional tooth cleaning. Radiographs taken 12 months following treatment revealed that only minor changes in the bone level had occurred in areas with horizontal bone loss following the various treatment modalities. Following the modified Widman flap procedure, however, a statistically significant coronal regrowth of bone (0.5 mm) had occurred in angular bony defects. The majority of the angular bony defects persisted following all 3 treatment modalities.