HYPOTHESIS: Bone dust (BD) harvested during operation may be suitable as an autologous obliteration material for noncritical size defects. Bioactive glass (BA) can be an alternative.

BACKGROUND: To treat noncritical size defects, BD and BA are commonly used for obliteration techniques. However, the optimal harvesting method and parameters for BD have not been examined. In this study, we analyzed the osseoregenerative potential of both materials.

METHODS: Thirteen female merino sheep (7-yr old) underwent surgery on the frontal calvaria. Three defects were inserted. The first defect was considered a reference and remained unfilled, the second defect was filled with BD from the calvaria bone, and the third defect was filled with BA S53P4. The animals were sacrificed after 3 weeks. To evaluate bone regeneration, we used digital volume tomography, bone density measurement, fluorochrome sequence labeling, and histological analysis.

RESULTS: All analyses showed quantitative and qualitative bone regeneration 3 weeks after operation. The control blank defect showed significantly less new bone growth than the BD-filled defect. Moreover, bone regeneration occurred from the surrounding bone and showed only a defect bridge in the BD-filled defect. The BA completely filled the defect and had the highest density although the same amount of new mineralized bone generated as in the reference.

CONCLUSION: BD and BA seemed to be suitable bone replacement materials for obliteration techniques because they completely filled the defects. Thus, BD harvested under standardized conditions provided a higher level of osteoreparation potential for the generation of woven bone and establishment of defect bridges.