Pericardial Membranes

Dr Nina Rätscho, Product Management Department,
BEGO Implant Systems GmbH & Co. KG, Bremen, Germany

The loss of volume of the alveolar ridge that regularly occurs after tooth extractions can compromise the hard and soft tissue situation for implants and thus the aesthetic outcome. The principle of membranesupported guided bone regeneration (GBR) is currently the most commonly used technique for bone regeneration in the dental practice. The separation of the rapidly proliferating soft tissue from the more slowly regenerating hard tissue creates a protected compartment in which damaged or lost bone tissue can be regenerated.

Commercially available barrier membranes can be clearly differentiated from one another on the basis of several properties. Factors such as ‘source tissue’ and ‘preparation process’ have been just as exhaustively studied as the effect of the species from which the collagen was harvested or the networking properties. To what extent these factors are essential for the biodegradation time of a barrier membrane, for example, has been discussed in various studies. The BEGO Collagen Membrane is a resorbable barrier membrane derived from collagen that meets the requirements for use in guided bone and tissue regeneration and has proven itself in clinical use. The key features of the BEGO Collagen Membrane are considered to be the appropriate barrier function for the protection of areas of bone regeneration, the reliable exclusion of soft tissue from the regeneration zone and the permeability to nutrients.