Bone Morphogenetic Protein

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) is a human recombinant protein that induces stem cells in our body to become bone-forming cells and grow new bone. BMP is soaked onto and binds with a collagen sponge, which resorbs, or disappears, over time and is placed in the surgical site where new bone is desired. As the sponge dissolves, the bone morphogenetic protein is released locally and recruits cells to the area and induces certain cells to become bone-forming cells. The BMP also goes away once it has completed its task of jump starting the normal bone healing process.

Since there is no need to harvest bone from the patients’ body when using BMP, recipients were spared donor site pain. Complications from the graft harvest site are also eliminated with the use of bone morphogenetic protein.  While this new technology is a major advance in bone grafting surgery, there are limitations to its use.

Drs. Pollack, Odrich or Sarmiento would be happy to discuss all grafting options with you at the time of consultation.

             ENAMEL MATRIX DERIVATIVE- EMDOGAIN

Enamel matrix derivative (EMD), sold as Emdogain, is a protein gel isolated from the tooth bud (tooth forming complex) of mini-pigs.  It is made of a series of proteins which recruit cells to the area that aid and accelerate soft and hard tissue healing.  EMD is used to aid in the success of bone grafting procedures, particularly around teeth during periodontal surgery.  It has also been shown to aid in the success and effectiveness of gum grafting surgeries to increase the amount of gum tissue surrounding and covering an exposed root surface from gum recession.

Drs. Pollack, Odrich and Sarmiento often use Emdogain to improve surgical results, and can discuss with you the benefits of doing so for your surgery. 

                                              PRP/ L-PRF

PRP,or platelet rich plasma, and L-PRF, or leukocyte-platelet rich fibrin, are products derived from your own blood and used to aid in bone grafting and to accelerate soft tissue healing.  To produce PRP or L-PRF we draw a bit of blood from the patient’s vein and use specially designed centrifuges to isolate the part of the blood with platelets and white blood cells (leukocytes).  Both PRP and L-PRF are used to enhance healing for a variety of surgical procedures, but we generally reserve their use for larger bone grafting procedures like sinus grafts and ridge augmentations.