Maintaining Primary Closure After Guided Bone Regeneration Procedures: Introduction of a New Flap Design and Preliminary Results

BACKGROUND: Various flap designs have been proposed by numerous authors for the maintenance of passive primary soft tissue closures following guided bone regeneration (GBR) procedures. A previous publication by the present author documented the maintenance of passive soft tissue primary closures 96.1% of the time at least 6 months after GBR therapy in all areas of the mouth. Although seemingly impressive, a 96.1% success rate means that there is premature membrane exposure 3.9% of the time. A new flap design is introduced for use in conjunction with previously described flap designs to lessen the incidence of premature membrane exposure. METHODS: A total of 173 sites treated with GBR therapy were examined up to 6 months postoperatively to assess the ability to maintain passive soft tissue primary closure. Any membrane exposure during this 6-month postoperative period was deemed a failure, even if the site was successfully treated with an implant placement and restoration. RESULTS: A total of 171 of 173 GBR-treated sites demonstrated the maintenance of a soft tissue passive primary closure 6 months postoperatively, yielding a success rate of 98.8%. CONCLUSION: The introduction of the proposed flap design for use in conjunction with previously described flap designs significantly reduced the incidence of premature membrane exposure after a variety of GBR procedures.