Alveolar Ridge Preservation (ARP) in the Posterior Maxilla After the Extraction of Maxillary Molars

Overview

Dental implants are a fixed replacement solution with reported long-term survival rates between 94-98% over 20-40 years. In order to ensure successful implant therapy, adequate bone and soft tissue as well as correct 3D positioning of the implant are required. Upon extraction of a tooth, socket width can decrease by up to 60% within six months post-extraction, with a 11-22% vertical reduction. Additionally, sinus pneumatization occurs post-extraction as the maxillary sinus expands into the empty socket due to disuse atrophy and intra-sinus air pressure, as explained by Wolff's law. This further reduces residual bone height (RBH), often resulting in posterior maxillary sites requiring supplemental procedures to prevent bone loss or to augment the bone height at the time of implant placement. However, if the bone height and width dimensions are sufficient before and after extraction - in that, even with the aforementioned loss in width and height percentages in the latter, a standard implant may still be placed in the surrounding bone, one can argue that grafting may not be necessarily done at the time of extraction. Rather, it can be tailored to the patients' needs; thus potentially reducing overall post-operative discomfort and pain.

Bone grafting is a standard of care procedure often done several times during the course of therapy to ensure adequate surrounding bone to the implant. Alveolar ridge preservation (ARP) has emerged as an evidence-based and clinically validated approach for extraction site management, aiming to mitigate the dimensional bone and soft tissue loss that routinely follows tooth extraction. This is especially relevant in the posterior maxilla, where natural healing is often accompanied by significant reductions in both horizontal and vertical ridge dimensions. Oftentimes clinicians are faced with challenges intrasurgical that may lead to compromising the prosthetically driven implant position. Through thorough surgical planning prior to extraction, the investigators may be able to personalize bone grafting and surgical approaches in implant therapy, reduce the number of times the investigators graft while still achieving an ideal implant position, and improve the overall experience patients have. Careful preoperative analysis must be conducted to help guide clinicians in making these intraoperative decisions. To address these limitations, this study leverages an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Departments of Periodontics and Prosthodontics at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). This team offers: 1. Coordinated surgical and prosthetic planning, 2. Integration of digital workflows for predictable implant positioning, 3. Comprehensive follow-up and patient retention in a controlled academic environment. This multidisciplinary model ensures biologic ridge preservation, prosthetically guided treatment, and cost-effective, real-world application of ARP strategies.