Effect of an Osteogenic Extract on the Healing of Extraction Wounds

¹ United States Air Force Hospital, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

An osteogenic extract from bovine bone was implanted in extraction sockets of 25 patients. The principal constituents of the extract substance were reported to be a combination of the mucopolysaccharides chondroitin sulfate A and C. Biopsy specimens were taken from implant and control sites at intervals of 1 week, 10 days, and 2, 3, 6 and 10 weeks postextraction.

Histologic examination of biopsy specimens from the extraction wounds revealed: (1) The implantation of the osteogenic "inductor substance" used in this study did not appear to stimulate osteogenesis or to initiate new bone formation by induction. (2) The first evidence of osteogenesis was observed 10 days after extraction. (3) Osteoblastic activity was first observed in the remnants of the periodontal membrane, suggesting that elements of this structure may have been responsible for the initiation of osteogenesis. (4) The presence of epithelial cells within the organized young connective tissue of the alveolus was suggestive of an epithelial response in the attempted isolation of particulate matter. (5) In general, the pattern and progress of healing and bone repair in human extraction wounds, as observed in this study, supported the findings reported by previous investigators.