Utility of tooth as an autogenous graft material in the management of intraoperative alveolar bony defects—A clinical trial

Background: Autogenous bone grafts, though considered the gold standard in maxillofacial surgery defects, involve a separate surgery and can cause donor site morbidity. Using autogenous tooth grafts can reduce such issues, offering a potential alternative with less morbidity. Objectives: To find out the utility of freshly extracted teeth as an autogenous graft material in the management of intraoperative oral and maxillofacial surgical defects. Materials and Methods: We performed a non-randomized clinical trial including 25 patients with mild (<1 cm 3 )- to moderate (1-2 cm 3 )-sized odontogenic pathology including cyst or tumor, and impacted third molar and canine indicated for extraction and patients with cleft lip and palate requiring secondary alveolar bone grafting. All patients were evaluated intraoperatively, clinically, and radiographically for the following parameters—volume of the processed autogenous graft from the teeth, size of the intraoperative oral and maxillofacial surgical defect, post-operative healing at 3 rd month and 6 th month, and post-operative infection rate. Results: Of 25 patients, 16 patients had relative bone healing (RBH) score at 6 months (RBH 6M) greater than 0.97 (score 0), suggesting ideal healing of the surgical defect after 6 months postgrafting. Seven patients had RBH 6M between 0.96 and 0.80 (score 1), suggesting good healing. Two patients had RBH 6M less than 0.80 (score 2), suggesting poor healing. Post-operative infection was found in one patient of the 25 patients. Conclusion: Autogenous tooth graft is an excellent and equally effective option to the conventional autogenous bone graft with the added advantage of no donor site morbidity.