Evaluation of Bone Height and Bone Density After Tooth Extraction: an Experimental Study in Minipigs

Objective: The objective of this study was to radiographically quantify bone density and bone height preservation in tooth extraction alveolus filled with xenograft.

Study Design: The maxillary and mandibular fourth deciduous molars and fourth premolars of 6 minipigs were removed. Randomly, in 3 animals the right side was used as the test side and in the other 3 animals the left side was the test side. Intraoral radiographs were performed to compare the condition at the initial time and 3 months later. Measurements of bone height and bone density were performed using KS300 (Zeiss) software.

Results: After 3 months, there was a statistically significant smaller bone height loss for the test group. The test group presented a statistically greater bone density immediately after tooth extraction. However, after 3 months there was no statistically significant difference between the groups.

Conclusions: The results suggest that treatment of postextraction alveolus with xenograft can preserve bone height initially but differences in bone density compared to when no xenograft is used are not sustained.