Treatment of ligature-induced peri-implantitis defects by regenerative procedures: a clinical study in dogs.

We carried out a clinical evaluation of the hard tissue fill following treatment of ligature-induced peri-implantitis in dogs. Four dogs were used and their mandibular premolars (P2, P3 and P4) were removed. After 3 months of healing, two titanium implants were placed on each side of the mandible. After 3 months, the abutment connection was performed, and experimental peri-implantitis was induced by placement of cotton ligatures in a submarginal position. The ligatures and abutments were removed after one month, and the peri-implant bone defects were assigned randomly to one of the treatments: debridement (control), debridement plus guided bone regeneration (GBR), debridement plus mineralized bone graft (BG), and debridement plus guided bone regeneration associated with a mineralized bone graft (GBR + BG). Clinical measurements of the peri-implant bone defects before and 5 months after treatment revealed no statistically significant differences between the defects treated by GBR, BG and GBR + BG. These 3 treatment methods provided more hard tissue fill than debridement alone (p < 0.05). Thus, it can be concluded that GBR, BG or a combination of the two techniques can enhance the hard tissue fill in defects caused by peri-implantitis in dogs.