Abstract
Background: Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is a surgical technique using very small incisions indicated for performing regenerative therapy in periodontal defects. The 11-month results from a prospective study of MIS were previously published. This article presents the 6-year results of that prospective study. Methods: Patients from two private periodontal practices with advanced periodontitis who, after nonsurgical therapy, had one or more sites with probing depths ≤6mmwere included in the study. An MIS surgical approach was used for all sites ≤6 mm. After surgical debridement, enamel matrix derivative (EMD) was placed into the bony defect. The surgical sites were reevaluated after ≤6 years. Results: Six-year data were available on 142 sites in 13 patients.No significant differenceswere noted in the results between the two offices, and the datawere combined. Probing depths (mean: 3.18 mm; SD: 0.59 mm) and attachment levels (mean: 3.93 mm; SD: 0.19) at 6 years were unchanged from the 11-month measurements. No recession from preoperative levels was noted. All sites continued to be considered clinically successful. Conclusions: The combination of MIS and EMD yielded significant reductions in probing depths and improvements in attachment levels while producing no detectable recession. The 11-monthresults remained stable at 6 years. J Periodontol 2010;81:435-441.