Clinical, Radiological, and Histomorphometric Comparison of the Use of Deproteinized Bovine Bone Mineral and Titanium-Prepared Platelet-Rich Fibrin in Maxillary Sinus Augmentation: A Split-Mouth Randomized Controlled Clinical Study.

Background: Maxillary sinus augmentation (MSA) is a standard and predictable procedure to increase bone height in the atrophic posterior maxilla. Many biomaterials are employed in this technique; however, autologous platelet concentrates have been found to reduce clinical recovery time and improve bone gain in MSA.

Purpose: This study aimed to compare the radiographic, histomorphometric, and implant stability outcomes of titanium-prepared platelet-rich fibrin (T-PRF) and deproteinized bovine bone mineral (DBBM) in a two-stage MSA technique.

Study design, setting, sample: This randomized controlled split-mouth study included patients requiring bilateral two-stage MSA at the Periodontology Department of Kutahya Health Sciences University between March 2022 and April 2023. Patients with systemic comorbidities and residual bone height >5 mm in the bilateral posterior maxilla were excluded.

Predictor variable: The predictor variable was the two-stage MSA technique. Each surgical site was randomly assigned to the T-PRF or DBBM group for two-stage MSA.

Main outcome variables: The primary outcome was the histomorphometric evaluation of the percentage of new bone between the 2 groups. Secondary outcomes included radiographic evaluation of total bone height (ToBH), bone gain, bone density (BD), and graft volume (GV) on cone-beam computed tomography 6 months post-MSA, clinical assessment of primary implant stability at implant placement and secondary stability 3 months postplacement, and histomorphometric evaluation of the percentage of residual particles, percentage of connective tissue, and percentage of blood vessels from bone biopsy samples collected 6 months after MSA.

Covariates: Age, sex, periodontitis susceptibility, and smoking status were treated as covariates.

Analyses: The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for bivariate comparisons between 2 groups, and the Pearson or Spearman test was used to analyze correlations of variables within groups. A P value ≤ .05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The sample was composed of 10 patients with bilateral maxillary sinuses, 20 MSA regions, 8 (80%) males and 2 (20%) females with a mean age of 51.30 (9.06) year. The percentage of new bone was 19.48 ± 14.60 μm² in the T-PRF group and 8.31 ± 5.47 μm² in the DBBM group, and there was no statistically significant difference between the groups (P = .074). Radiographic measurements showed ToBH, GV, and BD values of 10.64 ± 3.96 mm, 989.89 ± 523.07 mm³, and 192.09 ± 127.90 hounsfield unit in the T-PRF group and 14.25 ± 1.65 mm, 1,519.39 ± 432.61 mm³, and 492.77 ± 117.35 hounsfield unit in the DBBM group, respectively. ToBH, GV, and BD values were statistically significant between the groups (P = .01 and P = .00). Primary and secondary implant stability in the T-PRF group were 71.11 ± 12.48 implant stability quotient (ISQ) and 68.03 ± 6.81 ISQ, respectively, compared with 67.94 ± 19.84 ISQ and 72.46 ± 11.21 ISQ in the DBBM group. The difference was not statistically significant between the groups (P = .41 and P = .33).

Conclusion and relevance: Although T-PRF demonstrated inferior radiographic outcomes compared with DBBM during the initial6-month healing phase, both techniques yielded comparable results regarding new bone formation and implant stability. Further research is warranted to explore the efficacy of different T-PRF applications in MSA. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05596084).