Demineralized Whole-tooth vs Demineralized Particulate Dentin Grafts in Alveolar Ridge Preservation. a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Extraction of the teeth is still one of the most commonly undertaken procedures in dental practices due to various reasons that render the teeth non-restorable. Following extraction, replacing the lost teeth with a prosthetic alternative that provides for both optimal esthetics and function can be challenging due to the inevitable events of socket healing that results in the reduction in alveolar bone height and width. To overcome these limitations and provide for adequate ridge volume, different bone preservation or augmentation techniques can be utilized with different clinical applications.

Alveolar ridge preservation is a procedure that attempts to reduce bone dimensional changes that naturally take place following tooth extraction. To overcome this problem, various approaches using various grafting materials and/or covering membranes have been proposed with varied success. The extracted tooth is no longer considered as clinical waste, it has been explored as an appropriate source for autogenous graft substitute. This idea emerged due to the shared embryonic origin of bone and teeth as well as the similarities in chemical structure as dentin is composed of 30-35% organic part and 65-70% inorganic part in comparison to alveolar bone, with inorganic and organic parts of 35% and 65% respectively. Both whole-tooth and particulate forms has been utilized for alveolar ridge preservation or augmentation but the superiority of one form over the other is not yet clear.