Entire papilla preservation technique for treatment of periodontal intrabony defects: a series of cases

Objective: Periodontitis is characterized by bone resorption. Vertical bone loss results in an intraosseous defect. Multiple sur-gical approaches for treating intrabony defects have shown dif-ferent grades of effectiveness. Recently, the entire papilla pres-ervation technique has been proposed, improving clinical parameters, such as pocket depth and clinical attachment level. Thisseries ofcases aimed to describe the use ofthe entire papilla preservation surgical technique without using biomaterials to re-generate periodontal intrabony defects. The influence on the clin-ical periodontal parameters and radiographic parameters was measured through CBCT, the latter not described until now, and analyzed the possible postoperative complications. Method and materials: A total of six intrabony periodontal defects associated with at least one periodontal pocket with probing depths equal to or greater than 6 mm were treated with the entire papilla preser-vation technique. The clinical and radiographic parameters were evaluated at the beginning and 6 months after surgery. Results: The mean probing pocket depth reduction was 4.00 ± 0.63 mm, the mean clinical attachment level gain was 3.67 ± 1.03 mm, and the mean radiographic intrabony filling was 2.41± 2.03 mm. Early healing was uneventful; the mean visual analog scale at 7 days was 0. Conclusions: This minimally invasive technique results in an improvement in clinical and radiographic parameters, the latter showing a filling of the bone defect observed during the 6-month evaluation after surgical treatment. These results confirm the importance of clot and flap stability in regenerating intraosseous defects.