Introduction: Guided bone regeneration (GBR) is the use of membranes to repair various forms of bone deficiencies in a controlled and precise manner.
Objectives: To evaluate a new technique for alveolar ridge augmentation, using custom-made zirconia membranes.
Materials and methods: This clinical study was conducted on 10 custom-made zirconia membranes placed in 10 patients having alveolar bone deficiency in the upper anterior jaw region. Radiographic evaluation was performed by cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) preoperatively and 6 months postoperatively.
Results: Successful bone gain took place in all cases either in horizontal and/or vertical directions; even when membranes got prematurely exposed, no evidence of infection was observed till the membranes were removed.
All the results were evaluated clinically, radiographically and statistically. Clinically, mild pain and edema occurred and totally subsided 7 to 14 days post-operatively. Radiographically, bone dimensions, either vertically and/or horizontally, have shown remarkable increase.
Conclusions: The tested custom-made zirconia membranes demonstrated good clinical performance and did not show signs of infection, even when exposed prematurely. More research with a larger sample size is required.