Commonly abbreviated as PRP, platelet-rich plasma is a relatively new approach to enhancing tissue regeneration in dental medicine. This approach improves healing after many oral and dental procedures, especially in older patients. The rationale behind PRP treatment is the centrifugation of a patient's blood. Platelet-rich plasma contains particular growth factors that speed-up wound healing, making PRP an ideal tissue repairing mechanism. PRP in oral surgery has several benefits, including enhancing soft tissue healing, reducing bleeding, and fostering bone regeneration. There is proof of numerous benefits of incorporating PRP to many oral and surgical dental procedures. Dentists often adopt the PRP approach while conducting procedures like implant surgery, tooth extractions, and periodontal surgery. Encino Dentist provides reliable, platelet-rich plasma treatment.

A Platelet-Rich Plasma Explained

The blood consists of several components, including white and red blood cells, plasma, and platelets. Plasma is a mixture of salts, water, sugar, and fats. The plasma's role is to transport platelets, blood cells, and vital nutrients throughout the body. Platelets play a significant role in the body's healing process. They adhere to the injured blood vessels' walls and help form a clot, thus preventing excessive bleeding.

With platelets' presence, the body effectively forms clots more efficiently, helping to speed up the healing process. The combination of plasma and platelets help to stimulate tissue growth and regeneration effectively. Medics have taken advantage of this information to create PRP therapy in dentistry and other medical areas. The PRP application in dentistry has become popular due to its ability to enhance healing, especially after dental surgery.

Platelets rich plasma sounds complicated, but the process of obtaining PRP is straightforward. The experts start by acquiring a blood sample from the patient and centrifuge it to separate the patient's blood into several layers. The uppermost layer contains the plasma with a high concentration of platelets. The top layer is obtained and used in different ways, depending on the dental procedure being conducted.

It is important to note that because the platelet-rich plasma is obtained from the patient's blood, there are lower risks of adverse side effects and complications. PRP therapy works in a surprisingly simple manner. The PRP helps to release growth factors into wounds and surgical sites. The platelets help to enhance blood clotting and prevent excessive bleeding after oral surgery. The more the growth factors present in a surgical site or a wound, the faster the healing process. Therefore, sourcing PRP from a patient's blood is an excellent way of boosting platelets' presence in the body and promoting healing.

In different types of dental procedures, strong and proper healing is essential. Therefore, PRP therapy is ideal because it promotes better healing after invasive dental procedures. PRP is a significant addition to dental procedures that involve the bone in a patient's jaw. Some of the dental procedures that greatly benefit from PRP therapy are fistula repair, dental implant, and repair of bone defects and trauma.

The Concentration of Platelets in PRP

The platelets count in normal blood ranges between 150,000 per liter to 350,000 per liter of blood. However, platelet-rich plasma may have as high as 1,000,000 platelets per liter of blood. This high platelet concentration helps produce highly differentiated cells, critical in rebuilding the body’s bone and soft tissues. A high concentration of platelets also enhances the vascularity of the healing tissue.

The PRP therapy helps to boost the bone morphogenetic protein, commonly abbreviated as BMP. BMP plays a significant role in the formation of new bones. This correlation between PRP and BMP is valuable to dentists, especially while placing dental implants. PRP therapy yields results and grows new bone much faster than the conventional methods of bone regeneration.

The Best Candidate for PRP

Due to the low risk of complications, many people are an ideal candidate for PRP. Patients who receive PRP therapy, especially after oral surgery, heal and return to their normal activities faster than patients who do not undergo the PRP therapy. As people age, their bodies regenerate much slower. Therefore, older persons benefit significantly from PRP therapy because it helps to enhance faster healing. The body produces fewer growth factors as it ages. PRP therapy helps to supplement the few growth factors present in the body and accelerates the recovery process.

If you are wondering whether you are an ideal candidate for PRP therapy, you should seek counsel from your dentist.

Platelet-Rich Plasma in Dentistry

Experts in dental and oral medicine are constantly discovering materials and procedures that enhance dental treatments' clinical outcomes. Platelet-rich plasma is a new approach to tissue regeneration usually applied in different medical fields, including dentistry. PRP enhances the faster healing of the wound after oral surgery. Platelets are crucial in the initiation of recovery after surgery because they are among the first cells to respond to a wound site. Platelets have important growth factors and have procoagulant effects. Due to these characteristics, PRP boosts both soft and hard tissue healing after surgery.

The PRP approach comes in handy in promoting healing in several dental procedures like:

  • Mandibular reconstruction
  • Ablative surgical procedures
  • Treatment of periodontal defects
  • Repair of alveolar cleft through surgery
  • Periodontal plastic surgery
  • All dental procedures and practices related to the placement of osseointegrated implants

Due to its adhesive nature, PRP facilitates easier handling of graft material. PRP has a more predictable hemostasis and flap adaptation than in the case of primary closure only.

Aging patients benefit the most from the PRP procedure. From a dental point of view, aging dental patients are special needs patients. Many elderly persons are subject to systemic diseases that influence their response to surgical treatment. Coagulation and tissue repair in an older person is often slower than in a younger patient. PRP initiates and sustains wound healing by increasing tissue vascularity, accelerating bone repair, and promoting fibroblast proliferation.

Dentists use platelet-rich plasma obtained by mixing PRP with calcium chloride and thrombin. PRP is derived from the centrifugation of autologous whole blood. Mixing PRP with calcium chloride and thrombin helps activate alpha granules, which, in turn, helps to release crucial growth factors.

Application of PRP in Tooth Extraction

Tooth extract tissue regeneration is a standard dental procedure, especially if you have impacted teeth or periodontal disease, or severe tooth decay. Patients often experience post-operative pain, mainly if the dentist extracts third impacted molars. Patients, especially those undergoing anticoagulant therapy, may experience excessive bleeding after tooth extraction.

PRP comes in handy in enhancing tissue repair mechanisms and relieving post-operative discomfort. PRP helps to obtain a high concentration of growth factors that enhance regeneration and tissue healing. The PRP approach not only promotes healing but also shortens the healing period. Application of PRP in alveolar pockets after tooth extraction has proved effective in improving soft tissue healing. However, experts are still researching the effectiveness of PRP in enhancing bone regeneration.

Platelet-Rich Plasma and Periodontal Surgery

After periodontal surgery, the application of PRP at the surgical site helps to form a fibrin clot. Therefore, PRP's use helps to promote the regeneration of periodontal soft tissues and promotes wound healing. The growth factors present in PRP also encourage repair bone by enhancing the mitosis of osteoblasts. The growth factors also increase tissue vascularity, and this enhances treatment for infra-bony defects. The incorporation of PRP in periodontal therapy is capable of reducing the gingival recession.

PRP in Bone and Soft Tissue Surgery and Implant Surgery

In bone tissue surgery, the direct application of PRP in the fracture lines helps boost bone regeneration. The formation of new bones increases under the influence of PRP. The use of PRP is more effective in enhancing bone regeneration than using bone marrow-derived stem cells. Combining PRP with other biomaterials is promising with regards to sinus lifting. Dentists have recorded promising results after using PRP as a coating material in implant surgery.

PRP in BRONJ Surgery

BRONJ stands for the bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw. This condition is mainly found in patients who have received oral and intravenous forms of bisphosphonate therapy due to certain bone-related conditions. Usually, BRONJ manifests as an exposure of the non-vital bones of the maxillofacial structures. The use of PRP in BRONJ surgery is recommended. BRONJ is a significant complication often treated with bisphosphonates (BP), a class of drugs mainly used in treating a wide range of pathologies. However, BPs inhibit bone resorption and also display anti-angiogenic activity. Patients treated with BP portray poorly vascularized bones, and their bones have a poor supply of the necessary substances for wound healing. However, dentists use DP drugs since they delay the onset of BRONJ.

The management of BRONJ is controversial, ranging from medical treatment to surgical treatment. Experts recommend PRP as an excellent complement to conservative surgery in treating BRONJ. The presence of growth factors in PRP help stimulate bone healing, often repressed by BPs. The presence of growth factors in PRP reduces tissue inflammation after surgery, accelerates wound healing, and enhances soft and bone tissue regeneration. These positive effects of PRP help to enhance tissue vascularization.

The Leading Benefits of PRP Therapy

PRP therapy replicates the natural healing process in the body. With a high concentration of platelets, the body experiences many benefits. When the body experiences an injury like a dental surgical procedure, the body sends platelets to the affected sites. This is the rationale behind PRP therapy. However, instead of only relying on the body's platelets to the surgical or treatment site, dentists introduce platelets directly to where they are needed most. Some of the specific benefits that patients reap from PRP therapy are:

  • Less pain
  • Faster healing after the placement of dental implants
  • Faster recovery after wisdom teeth removal
  • Faster healing and a lower likelihood of a dry socket incidence after tooth extraction
  • Better strength and recovery of the bone after bone grafts and dental implants placement
  • It is safe and does not have published instances of infections, the transmission of diseases like HIV and hepatitis, and unfavorable effects and reactions.
  • It is possible to prepare PRP simultaneously while conducting surgery by a trained dental expert. Therefore, the preparation and application of PRP are not time-consuming.
  • PRP is gel-like, and this helps to improve the ease of application, and it is also easy to handle
  • PRP is applicable in a wide range of dental procedures in addition to dental surgery and dental implants applications. PRP therapy also comes in handy in procedures like removing cysts, fistulas, and cleft lip repair.

In addition to enhancing faster healing, PRP therapy is convenient and cost-effective because it uses the patient's blood and is completely safe. The patient of applying PRP is straightforward and may only require a short outpatient procedure for the dentist to prepare you for the PRP dental procedure.

Limitations of PRP

Despite the many benefits of PRP, PRP also has a disadvantage in dysplastic tissue and tumor because of the over-expression of growth factors and their receptors. The cost of buying the PRP system is high and may not justify the cost to the patient. Patients with hematologic diseases and bleeding disorders are not ideal candidates for PRP therapy.

Patients have to be exposed to venipuncture and blood draws with the PRP therapy while preparing the platelet-rich plasma. Therefore, if you are afraid of needles, you may have difficulty as the surgeon draws blood from your body. However, the procedure utilizes a patient's blood in small quantities, and there is a low risk of infections or transmission of illnesses.

Find an Encino Dentist Near Me

PRP therapy is a remarkable development in the dental field due to its ability to boost faster healing. By boosting faster healing after surgery, PRP helps lower the risks of infections and other serious complications after dental treatment. The platelet-rich plasma therapy is perfect for a speedy recovery after invasive dental procedures. While most people are good candidates for PRP therapy, it is always good to consult with your dentist. Encino Dentist will help you know whether you are a PRP therapy candidate. Contact us at 818-650-0429 and speak to one of our dentists.