Residual alveolar ridge height and wound healing after conventional vestibuloplasty versus PRF membrane as an adjunct to conventional vestibuloplasty : A pilot comparative clinical study.

• Removable dentures are a common treatment for optimal improvement in function and esthetics in patients with edentulism. In subjects with high frenal attachment or shallow depth of vestibule , pre-prosthetic surgeries like vestibuloplasty and frenectomy play an imperative role in preparing the oral environment for a better denture stability.
• Vestibuloplasty surgeries are usually performed to provide adequate depth in labial or lingual vestibular area for denture flange.
• Several techniques for vestibuloplasty have been proposed such as conventional vestibuloplasty, Kazanjian technique and lip-switch technique, grafting vestibuloplasty with each one has its own advantages and disadvantages but the major disadvantage being relapse of the vestibular depth to the original position.
• In 2000, platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) as the second generation of autologous platelet concentrates (APCs) caught extreme attention for various oral application.
• PRF has no anti-coagulant agents and has excellent anti-bacterial , antiinflammatory , and regenerative potentials.
• To reduce the shortcomings of conventional vestibuloplasty procedures, PRF membrane can be employed for covering the exposed area. Therefore, there would be no need for further skin or mucosal graft harvesting; besides, the epithelialization rate of the wound can be accelerated.
• The ease-of-applicability of this natural biomaterial can ultimately increase its acceptance among surgeons and patients, while it leaves patients with less complications after surgery.

The present study aims at comparing the residual rodge height and wound healing after conventional vestibuloplasty versus PRF membrane as an adjunct to conventional vestibuloplasty.