A comparative study was conducted on the healing process of the dental socket after simple extraction or extraction after bony plate removal. The last procedure was associated with more intense inflammatory reactions, delayed healing, and morphological alterations of the alveolar crest.
Seventy-two male albino rats were used. Their upper right incisors were extracted with forceps through the alveolar route or after elevation of a mucoperiosteal flap and partial removal of the buccal bony plate; the wounds were sutured. The animals were sacrificed after 1, 3, 6, 9, 15 and 21 days. The pieces of jaw containing the dental alveoli were processed for routine histological analysis. Semi-serial sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin showed that the removal of the buccal bony plate was related to: (1) a more intense and prolonged inflammatory reaction within the socket, (2) a delayed chronological evolution of its healing process, (3) early connective tissue neoformation near the edges of the sectioned bony tissue, and (4) a shape loss of the alveolar crest at the cervical third.