A histological assessment of the initial healing response adjacent to porous-surfaced, titanium alloy dental implants in dogs.

We report here the results of a histological assessment of the initial healing response following implantation into the dog mandible of a porous-surfaced, titanium alloy endosseous dental implant. Two implants were placed in edentulous areas on each side of the mandible of each dog and covered with a full-thickness mucoperiosteal flap. The implant sites on one side of the mandible were allowed to head for four weeks, while those on the other side were allowed to head for eight weeks before the animals were killed. Histological specimens were obtained and assessed both qualitatively and by computer-assisted morphometry. All but one of the 24 implants were well-tolerated and healed with a variable ingrowth of bone into the porous-surface geometry. The histomorphometric measurements revealed that bone ingrowth had reached a plateau by four weeks of initial healing.