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<p>Lieutenant Commander Floyd I. Sandlin, DC, USNR, and Commander Mary E. Neill, DC, USN<br><br>Purpose<br>The purpose of this clinical update is to review bio-absorbable materials currently marketed as barrier membranes in guided cell repopulation techniques in periodontal therapy.<br><br>Introduction<br>Healing of periodontal defects can be a complex process. Ideally, the goal of surgical therapy is to regenerate lost structures, namely cementum, periodontal ligament (PDL) and alveolar bone. The cells that repopulate the root surface after surgery tend to determine the type of attachment that is formed. Epithelial cells generally migrate first into the surgical site, but they form an epithelial attachment. Guided tissue regeneration (GTR) uses a barrier membrane to exclude epithelial cells and gingival connective tissue. This favors regeneration of lost tissue by promoting cell repopulation from the PDL and adjacent alveolar bone. Guided bone regeneration (GBR) is a technique that evolved from GTR principles and is specifically designed to reconstruct alveolar bone defects for the placement of dental implants.<br><br>Nonabsorbable barriers made of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) (like Gore-Tex®) are considered the ‘gold standard’ by which other barrier membrane systems are compared. Their primary disadvantage is that they must be removed after the appropriate healing time necessitating a second surgical procedure. Absorbable barriers were introduced to overcome this problem. Currently available materials include collagen, polygalactin, and polylactic acid.<br><br>Discussion will focus only on those materials in wide-scale clinical use.
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<br>Subjects: Guided Tissue Regeneration</div>
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U.S. Navy. Naval Postgraduate Dental School</div>
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