Treatment of Periodontal Furcation Defects. Mandibular Class III Defects

T wenty‐seven mandibular Class III furcation defects were treated in 27 subjects using a regenerative therapy that included citric acid root conditioning and coronally positioned flaps secured by crown‐attached sutures. In addition to this therapy, 13 of the 27 defects received freeze‐dried, decalcified allogenic bone grafts. The effect of these therapies was evaluated from soft tissue probing measurements, including furcation probings to determine soft tissue closure of the defects. At 6 months postsurgery, the mean vertical probing depth reduction and the mean probing attachment level gain in the furcation area were 2.6 mm and 2.2 mm for the non‐grafted defects and 1.9 mm and 1.5 mm for the grafted defects. One of the 14 non‐grafted defects and 3 of 13 grafted defects were judged to show soft tissue clinical closure by a panel of 3 independent examiners. No statistically significant differences were observed between defects treated with or without bone grafts. J Periodontol 1991;62:361–365.