Histological evaluation of biphasic hydroxyapatite associated to beta tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) used in maxillary sinus lift

Introduction:Sinus lift to permit insertion of implants when alveolar residual bone height is insufficient may be considered an effective procedure. The use of autogenous bone from intraoral or extraoral sources is considered as the gold standard for this procedure. New options of bone substitutes have been emphasizing, such as Straumann(r) BoneCeramic (BC), consisting of 60% of hydroxyapatite and 40% of calcium phosphate, 100% synthetic material that was used in this work.Objective:This investigation was designed to evaluate and compare the behavior of a fully synthetic biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) 60% hydroxyapatite and 40% of β-tricalcium phosphate (Straumann(r) Bone-Ceramic) to the autogenous bone graft (ABG) in maxillary sinus floor elevation procedure prior to installation dental implants.Material and method:Ten healthy patients who were partially edentulous in the posterior maxilla were included in this study and submitted to a unilateral maxillary sinus floor elevation procedure, with grafting using either ABG (control group; 5 patients) or BCP (test group; 5 patients). After 6 months of healing implant sites were created and biopsies taken for histological analyses.Result:A primary stability was achieved with all dental implants after the biopsies. Histological investigation showed a viable new bone tissue formed in 4 of 5 BCP specimens. Also, showed close contact between new bone and BCP particles, in 4 of 5 specimens. In 1 of 5 BCP specimens no viable bone tissue was found. Both ABG and BCP produced similar amounts of newly formed bone, with similar histologic appearance.Conclusion:The results indicate that BCP is a suitable material for sinus augmentation for the placement of dental implants.