Clinical and cytological assessment of platelet-rich fibrin versus topical ozonated oil in palatal wound healing after free gingival graft harvesting: Randomized controlled trial

Objectives This randomized clinical trial was conducted to assess the effects of platelets-rich fibrin (PRF) and ozonated oil on the healing of palatal donor wound sites and the patient’s morbidity after free gingival graft (FGG) harvesting. Material and methods Thirty-nine patients were randomly assigned and allocated to three groups (n = 13) for each group. In PRF treated group, a PRF membrane was placed over the palatal wounds while, ozonated oil group were treated with 2 mL ozonated oil daily for 1 week. One week post-operatively, the donor site wound healing was recorded by the healing index (HI). A visual analogue scale (VAS) assessed patient’s pain perception. A cytological analysis was performed using the superficial epithelial cell and keratinization indices at 7, 14, 21 days and second month post-operatively. Results There was a statistically significant difference in HI between PRF group in comparing to ozonated oil and control groups (p ≤ 0.0001). Cytological results of PRF group showed a highly significant improvement (p ≤ 0.00001) in re-epithelization and keratinization indices over time. Meanwhile, non-significant difference was observed between PRF and ozonated oil groups after 2 months post-operatively of complete re-epithelization. Conclusions Our results showed that the application of PRF on donor wound sites has a significant improvement in wound healing and rapid enhancing effect on the re-epithelialization rate comparing to topical ozonated oil.