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Background The alveolar ridge undergoes pronounced reduction in height and width following tooth extraction. This study aims to comparatively evaluate the potential for ridge preservation in extraction sockets with buccal bone deficiency of β-tricalcium phosphate coated with poly lactide-co-glycolide (β-TCP/PLGA) and conventional particulate β-TCP. Methods In six beagles, maxillary first premolars were extracted after removal of their buccal bone plates. Standardized bone defects (4 [mesiodistal width] × 4 [buccopalatal width] × 5 [depth] mm) were created at the sites of extraction sockets and filled with β-TCP/PLGA (test sites) or particulate β-TCP (control sites). Microcomputed tomography, histologic, and histometric evaluations were performed 12 weeks post-surgery. Results The test sites exhibited a significantly greater bone volume than the control sites (25.7 ± 2.14 versus 16.0 ± 3.3 mm3 ), although no statistically significant difference was detected in bone material density (746.3 ± 23.9 versus 714.5 ± 37.0 g/cm3 , respectively). Relative to the control sites, the test sites exhibited significantly greater alveolar-ridge coronal (2.0 ± 0.4 versus 1.1 ± 0.3 mm) and middle (2.9 ± 0.2 versus 2.1 ± 0.3 mm) horizontal widths and proportions of woven bone (50.3 ± 8.1% versus 38.0 ± 5.2%) and bone marrow (17.7 ± 6.6% versus 9.7 ± 4.1%) but a significantly lower proportion of connective tissue (10.7 ± 4.5% versus 18.3 ± 5.7%). Conclusion Within the limitations of this study, the moldable β-TCP/PLGA graft appears to exhibit a greater potential than the conventional particulate β-TCP graft for ridge preservation of extraction sockets with buccal bone deficiency.

Reduction in alveolar ridge volume is a direct consequence of tooth extraction. Tunnel β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) blocks were manufactured from randomly organized tunnel-shaped β-TCP ceramic. Efficacy of these blocks compared to extraction alone for alveolar ridge preservation after tooth extraction with buccal bone deficiency was evaluated.Maxillary first premolars of six beagle dogs were extracted after removing the buccal bone, and bone defects of 4 × 4 × 5 mm (mesio-distal width × bucco-palatal width × depth) were created. Fresh extraction sockets with buccal bone defects were filled with tunnel β-TCP blocks at test sites. Two months after the operation, histologic and histometric evaluations were performed.Regarding histologic sections, coronal and middle horizontal widths of the alveolar ridge were significantly greater at test sites (3.2 ± 0.5 and 3.6 ± 0.4 mm, respectively) than at control sites (1.2 ± 0.3 and 2.0 ± 0.6 mm, respectively). The amount of woven bone was significantly greater at test sites (62.4% ± 7.9%) than at control sites (26.8% ± 5.3%), although that of connective tissue and bone marrow was significantly greater at control sites (38.1% ± 6.2% and 16.0% ± 6.9%, respectively) than at test sites (10.7% ± 5.7% and 4.1% ± 2.2%, respectively). Regarding basic multicellular units, no statistically significant difference was found between the test and control sites (0.5% ± 0.1% and 0.6% ± 0.1%, respectively).Tunnel β-TCP blocks represent an effective bone-graft material for alveolar ridge preservation in fresh extraction sockets with buccal bone defects.