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CATEGORY EV NTS

New biomaterials enhance implant success

By David Petrikas

T he importance of soft tissue preservation and new bone graft materials in implant procedures has been brought home to dentists attending a workshop titled: ‘Hard and Soft Tissue Augmentation in Implant Dentistry’ held in Sydney recently. Participants at the Park Hyatt adjacent Sydney Harbour were told that bone resorption of 50% of the original autologous grafted volume was common just six months after surgery. Autogenous bone – once considered the ‘gold standard’ in bone augmentation – is now being replaced my new hybrid biomaterials which together with an understanding of the techniques required, have the potential to greatly improve success rates. e other key take-home message was the need to understand and support soft tissue preservation and augmentation in ensuring bone regeneration, structural stability of implants and achieving desirable aesthetic outcomes. e Sydney workshop sponsored by Geistlich, featured eminent world expert, Professor Daniele Cardaropoli – President of the Giuseppe Cardaropoli Foundation for Research and Care in Periodontology and the author of more than 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Prof Cardaropoli is the editor of the recent textbooks “Soft Tissues and Pink Aesthetics in Implant erapy” and “Periodontal Plastic and Regenerative Dentistry”. A proud and passionate Italian, Prof Cardaropoli maintains a private practice in Torino and is a consultant doctor for his much beloved Juventus Football Club. He is an undeniable world authority on implants and periodontics and an engaging and entertaining speaker. Prof Cardaropoli said there was a strong need to help practising dentists learn more about and understand the latest developments in biomaterials that could greatly increase the success rate of implant procedures. Hesaidgiventhecorrect instructionand materials such as the now widely available Geistlich Bio-Oss® bone augmentation product, together with Geistlich Mucograft® and Geistlich Fibro-Gide® resorbable and

volume-stable collagen matrix, the area of dental implants could be made accessible to more dentists worldwide, enabling them to successfully treat more patients. e workshop heard that the practice of implant dentistry has evolved – and continues to evolve – since the rst major breakthroughs in the 1980’s when mechanical bone harvesting, and augmentation techniques rst began being widely adopted. He said implant dentistry in the 1980’s had typically high morbidity and low predictability, while the use of biological bone grafting techniques in the 2020’s had resulted in low morbidity and high predictability. However, Prof Cardaropoli since then

success rates had waned, and the rate of failures had identi ed the need for better techniques to preserve and augment both bone and soft tissue using the latest developments in available materials and techniques. He said the materials were now available but sometimes there was a knowledge gap in how to use them which had hampered their more widespread uptake and successful procedures. “I’m working with the companies who do a lot of R&D to help nd ways of achieving the best treatment outcomes using their products. In the world of medicine and dentistry the knowledge should be spread in a horizontal way to our colleagues.

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