Intervention for replacing missing teeth: Alveolar ridge preservation techniques for dental implant site development - evidence summary of Cochrane review

The Cochrane reviews have transparent reporting of the methodology to clarify the reader the methods used for writing the review; hence, each review becomes a large volume of scientific literature. This evidence summary of the Cochrane review published in 2015 for the question, what are the clinical effects (preservation of both width and height of bone, esthetic outcomes, complications, and failure of implant) for different alveolar ridge preservation techniques (ARP) and materials used in patients planning implant placement following extraction after 6 months follow-up. This review provides evidence for efficacy of different ARP techniques, materials, and superiority of one over the other. It also tries to settle the controversy of timing of placement of implant after grafting. Of the 8 included studies from 50, two trials provide moderate evidence for xenografts versus extraction favoring xenografts in preserving the width and height of bone by 1.97 mm (2.48-1.46) and 2.60 mm (3.43-1.76), respectively in pooled estimates of meta-analysis. Using different material, five-trial were found; of which, two trials provide moderate evidence for alloplast versus xenografts favoring alloplast in preserving the width by 0.44 mm (0.90-0.02) and low-grade evidence for height of bone by 0.35 mm (0.86-0.16) in pooled estimates of meta-analysis. There is a paucity of randomized controlled trial to address other primary and secondary outcomes addressed in this review.