Following tooth extraction caused by severe periodontitis, alveolar ridge dimension lose their original volume. To reduce the alveolar ridge dimension, the ridge preservation technique has been introduced and tested in many clinical studies with membrane alone or membrane plus graft, achieving reduced ridge loss compared to extraction only. The aim of the present clinical study was to compare the post-extraction dimensional changes in the membrane exposure group to non-exposure group during healing period following ridge preservation technique.

Ridge preservation was performed in 44 extraction sites. After extraction, deproteinized bovine bone mineral coated with synthetic oligopeptide (Ossgen-X15®) or deproteinized bovine bone mineral (Bio-Oss®) was implanted into the socket. A collagen membrane (Bio-Gide®) was trimmed to cover the socket completely and applied to the entrance of the socket. Four clinical parameters were compared between baseline and 6 months.

During healing period, membrane exposure was observed at 19 sites. At the re-entry, hard newly formed tissue were observed at the ridge preservation site. The grafted socket sites were well preserved in their volume dimension. In both groups, horizontal ridge width was reduced and vertical height was increased. There were not statistically significant differences in horizontal (-1.32 mm vs -1.00 mm) and vertical ridge change (2.24 mm vs 2.37 mm at buccal crest, 1.36 mm vs. 1.53 mm at lingual crest) between two groups.

The ridge preservation approach after tooth extraction effectively prevented resorption of hard tissue ridge in spite of membrane exposure during healing period.