Influence of gelatin sponge in the repairing process in dental extraction wounds - histological evaluation in rats

Abstract

The present paper aimed to investigate, histologically, the chronology of the repairing pro- cess in wounds caused by dental extraction in rats, after implant of a collagen and gelatin powder based haemostatic material, commercially known as Dental Spongostan®. Forty Wistar rats were used. They were adult males, weighting from 180 to 220g, and were divided into two groups: control group I and experimental group II. Subjects in group I only suffered extraction of the upper right central incisor, whereas subjects in group II also received application of the gelatin sponge Dental Spongostan®. The rats were sacrificed on days 3, 6, 9, 15 and 21 after the surgery. In the experimental group, the implanted material was found sometimes in the medium third, sometimes in the cervical third of the alveolus. However, it was not present any- more in the rats sacrificed on, or after, the ninth day after surgery. There was intense inflammatory reaction around the implanted ma- terial, which consequently caused signifcant delay in the process of alveolar repair. Key words: wound healing, gelatin sponge, haemostatic agent, extraction wound.