Tissue regeneration adjacent to titanium implants placed with simultaneous transposition of the inferior dental nerve: a study in dogs.

Transposition of the inferior alveolar nerve was performed in an experimental dog model. Four adult greyhounds were used in the study. Surgical transposition of the nerve was made bilaterally, and 3 implants were placed on each side while the nerve was lateralized. On one side, the nerve was repositioned in contact with the implants, while on the contralateral side a resorbable membrane was positioned between the implant surface and the neurovascular bundle. Histologic section after 4 months of healing showed an intimate contact between implants and nerve tissue in all cases without an interpositional membrane, in contrast to cases with membranes. Histomorphometric measurements of the distance between the implants and the nerve tissue showed that the membrane side had a considerably larger distance between the implant and the nerve, although not with concomitant bone formation.