German company Hettich, who are represented locally by Labotec, recently donated two EBA 20 centrifuges to the Wits Bone Research Unit to be used in the first human histological study in South Africa of bone derived from PRF (platelet rich fibrin). Participants in this study have tooth extraction sockets grafted with the platelet aggregate obtained by using the EBA 20 centrifuge machine, and after a period of healing, a biopsy will allow the Wits Bone Research Unit to histologically measure and asses the newly healed bone. The technique was first proposed by French physician, Dr Joseph Choukroun, and the study is a first for South Africa. Deborah Shaw from Labotec caught up with Dr Jonathan Du Toit from the Bone Research Unit to learn more of the developments of this unique study.
Dr Du Toit, a postgraduate at The University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Oral Health Sciences, and who is doing research in the Wits Bone Research Unit under the world-renowned Prof Ugo Ripamonti, is accompanied by a team of six specialists; two maxillofacial and oral surgeons, and four periodontists. The EBA 20 centrifuges are key to Dr Choukroun’s original PRF protocol.
The research study with the support from Hettich and Labotec will hopefully provide sound evidence based science behind the PRF protocol in grafting patients. The study according to Dr Du Toit is a triumph; being a human study; having participants act as their own controls to rule out bias; and having a world class bone research laboratory to evaluate the PRF derived bone answering definitively the questions behind this technique.
