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PLATELET RICH FIBRIN, created from the patient’s own tissue, is used in dentistry as a healing adjunct. It is most commonly used in filling a socket, when the hole left from the tooth cannot be sutured closed. The patient’s own PRF may be supplemented with bone as needed. Healing is remarkably faster and significantly decreases the risk of a painful dry socket.
Dr. Joseph Choukroun, MD, invented and pioneered the research and development of Platelete Rich Fibrin (PRF) membrane in France during the early part of this century. Fibrinogen is the active form of fibrin and is found in blood plasma. Fibrinogen transforms into the insoluble sticky fibrin in the presence of the patient’s naturally occurring thrombin and consolidates the initial platelets into a clot at the site of an injury.
PRF, created from the patient’s own tissue, is used in dentistry as a healing adjunct. It is most commonly used in filling a socket, when the hole left from the tooth cannot be sutured closed. The patient’s own PRF may be supplemented with bone as needed. Healing is remarkably faster and significantly decreases the risk of a painful dry socket.
To harvest and prepare the PRF tissue, the patient’s blood is drawn and placed in a centrifuge for 12 minutes separating out the red blood cells from the white blood cells from the platelets. No additional chemicals are added to the mixture. The fibrin clot is removed and flattened in a device, which turns it into a membrane that is easily sutured and covers a wound or a bone graft .
For certain situations, this membrane can be mixed with a variety of bone graft ing materials from the patient’s own, synthetic, cadaver, or animal bone, all of which aid the healing process into forming ones own bone. In some cases the PRF can be used alone. PRF is also used as a covering membrane for guided bone regeneration and bone graft ing in areas of minimal bone. PRF protects the graft ing material and accelerates wound closure and healing.
Implants have become the standard for tooth replacement. Tooth extraction often results in loss of bone volume that continues over time leaving inadequate bone for implants.
Proactive control of the extraction socket when an implant is not immediately placed is very beneficial. When the extraction socket is filled with PRF, the fibrin is incorporated into the clot and becomes part of the early healing tissue, providing bone growth in preparation for future implant placement.
Healing with clotting is very important in various dental procedures. Clotting formed with a bio active membrane aids the soft and hard protection for the wound. It is safe because the membrane comes from your own platelets. Included in the fibrin membrane are leukocytes (white blood cells) and a variety of the body’s own growth factors. PRF is a natural and relatively simple way to speed and improve healing in oral surgery and implantology.
