Maurizio Ludovichetti's research while affiliated with University of Padova and other places

... Proteins were incorporated onto to dental implants as biologic coatings to improve its osteoconductive and osteoinductive properties 34,35) . The bioactive modification with proteins, such as collagen-1, showing survival rates at 100% 33,35,36) . Nevertheless, proteins have several important limitations such as the high cost of synthesis, antigen formation, and molecular instability 37,38) , thus peptides derived from main proteins were introduced to overcome these problems 39) . ...

... In a recent clinical study, unchanged bovine bone particles integrated with the regenerated bone were identified 11 years after sinus floor augmentation [9]. To overcome this limitation, recent studies showed that a biologic deantigenation by a proteolytic process through digestive enzymes could leave unaltered the ability of the biomaterial to be reabsorbed in vivo [30]. Despite the advantages of such proteolytic process, more studies are required until it becomes routinely applied. ...

... This study reported a horizontal Mid-socket width reduction of −2.3 mm (±1.11) or 25.5% in the Control group, which is slightly less that the outcomes (2.6 mm to 4.6 mm, and 3.87 mm ± 0.82) reported in the systematic reviews undertaken by Ten Heggeler following ARP with a GBR (Aimetti et al., 2009;Barone et al., 2013b;Barone et al., 2008;Jung et al., 2013) or SS (Jung et al., 2013;Meloni et al., 2015) techniques, the high level of heterogeneity in the published data may account for the observed statistical differences. ...

... Poor oral hygiene or active periodontitis 12. Heavy tobacco smoking habit (> 10 cigarettes per day) Primary efficacy endpoints 1. Amount of new bone formation (mean area of mineralized and non-mineralized tissue) in alveolar bone core biopsies-"woven bone" (ratio 0-100%) at 4 months after grafting 2. Bone-graft material integration to host bone score in alveolar bone core biopsies at 4 months after grafting: -1 -Poor: no signs of new bone-to-graft interface visible -2 -Intermediate: minimal and focal signs of new bone-to-graft interface visible -3 -Good: abundant new bone-to-graft interface visible Secondary efficacy endpoints 1. Alveolar bone strength (torque measurement) at 4 months after grafting 2. Alveolar bone radiodensity (Hounsfield scale) calculated by volumetric CT imaging at 4 months after bone grafting 3. Success of dental implant placement in a rigid post-bone grafting site, defined by immediate dental implant stability after 4 months from bone grafting (visit 5) 4. Changes from baseline in alveolar bone height (depth reduction) at 4 months, measured at mesial and distal root surface [in millimeters] on Posterior to Anterior (PA) radiographs or by CT 5. Changes from baseline in alveolar bone width (horizontal bone gain or loss) (in millimeters) at 4 months on posterior to anterior (PA) radiographs or by CT Safety endpoints 1. Number of participants with treatment-related adverse events as assessed by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v4.0 through study completion (short-term and long-term) 2. Number of participants requiring unscheduled hospital visit related to the study procedure through study completion (short-term and long-term) 3. Safety and tolerability following grafting (graft site infection, insufficient healing of graft site, excessive bleeding, and wound dehiscence) over both short-term and long-term Usability endpoints 1. Physician assessment of the ease of graft placement using a 10-point satisfaction scale 2. Physician assessment of the ease of implant placement using a 10-point satisfaction scale summarized in Table 2. The primary efficacy endpoints [24][25][26] and also measures of alveolar ridge dimensions [24,25,27,28] have been validated by historical studies on a variety of bone substitutes (synthetic, autograft, allograft, xenografts). The main primary endpoint, which was used for the statistical power calculation, was the percent area of new bone formation ("woven bone") in sections of 4-5 mm trephine bur biopsies taken through the center of the graft site during dental implant placement at 4 months (± 21 days) post-grafting. ...

... As regards dental care, equine tendon collagen products effectively reduce bone resorption after teeth removal and induce bone regeneration with a bone structure similar to natural [167]. To this, a high number of equine tendon collagen products (t-Barrier ® , Biocollagen ® , Xenomatrix ® , Bio-gen ® , Bioart ® , Kollagen ® , Parasorb ® ) are actually clinically used for the treatment of periodontitis [121,126], alveolar ridge preservation after tooth extraction [77,168], edentulism [125], maxillary sinus lift [119], intraoral donor sites regeneration [164], root perforation [163] and radicular cyst [120]. ...

... Due to these limitations, in the last decade, a new class of bioresorbable barriers was developed: the cortical bone laminas. These bone sheets are made of collagen-preserved, partially demineralized cortical bone of porcine [11][12][13] or equine origin (Flex Cortical Sheet-FCS) [14][15][16]. Differently from pure collagen membranes, the thin layer of the remaining hydroxyapatite confers a slight rigidity to the cortical sheet and long-term protection of the bone graft/bone defect (more than 4 months) [14,17]. Multiple formats are available and suitable for horizontal ridge augmentation as well as for vertical ridge augmentation where the anatomy is favorable [11][12][13]18,19]. ...

... Successful ARP outcomes were recently achieved by grafting the post-extraction socket with enzyme-deantigenic equine bone (EDEB), which also consists of a mixture of cancellous and cortical bone granules (diameter 0.25-1 mm) made non-antigenic with digestive enzymes [37,38]. In addition to ARP procedures, EDEB was used with satisfactory results in peri-apical cyst-removal management [39], horizontal/vertical ridge and sinus augmentation [40][41][42], and orthopedic applications [43][44][45]. ...

... Rivara et al. [30] reported, in their preliminary histomorphological study, promising results at sixmonths follow-up, with the significant formation of new bone tissue (39.84% ± 2.96). Stievano et al. [42] performed a retrospective survival study of dental implants positioned in regenerated bone after maxillary sinus augmentation with the Biogen mix, without histological or histomorphometric analysis. The Di Stefano et al. randomized clinical trial (RCT) comparing the two xenografts reported a significantly higher amount of newly formed bone at sites treated with the equine xenograft compared with those treated with the bovine xenograft (46.86% ± 12.81% vs. 25.12% ...