Experimental study on the free transplantation of mucosa and lyophilised dura to the oral cavity

Summary The covering of epithelial defects in the oral cavity presents special problems in preprosthetic surgery, since special requisites for function and quality of mucosal grafts must be satisfied. In animal experiments mucosal defects in the oral cavity of 30 rabbits were repaired with free transplants of autologous mucosa and heterologous lyophilised dura. A comparative clinical and histological assessment of the healing processes showed that there was no essential difference between both methods. Considering the necessary second intervention, the infliction of a second wound, as well as the limited source of mucosa, our results show that the use of lyophilised dura in preprosthetic su…