Rescuing “hopeless” avulsed teeth using autologous platelet-rich fibrin following delayed reimplantation: Two case reports

BACKGROUND: Tooth avulsion is one of the most severe types of dental trauma. Most avulsed teeth undergo long-term ankylosis and replacement resorption after delayed reimplantation and exhibit a poor prognosis. The aim of this work was to improve the success rate of avulsed teeth after delayed reimplantation using autologous platelet-rich fibrin (PRF). CASE SUMMARY: Case 1 was a 14-year-old boy who fell and knocked out his left upper central incisor 18 h prior to his arrival at the department. The diagnoses were avulsion of tooth 21, lateral luxation of tooth 11 and alveolar fracture of teeth 11 and 21. In case 2, a 17-year-old boy fell 2 h prior to his presentation to the hospital, and his left upper lateral incisor was completely knocked out of the alveolar socket. The diagnoses included avulsion of tooth 22, complicated crown fracture of tooth 11 and complicated crown-root fracture of tooth 21. The avulsed teeth were reimplanted along with autologous PRF granules and splinted using a semiflexible titanium preshaped labial arch. The root canals of the avulsed teeth were filled with calcium hydroxide paste, and root canal filling was performed 4 wk after reimplantation. The reimplanted teeth showed no symptoms of inflammatory root resorption or ankylosis at the 3-, 6-, and 12-mo follow-up examinations after reimplantation with autologous PRF. In addition to the avulsed teeth, the other injured teeth were treated using corresponding conventional treatment methods. CONCLUSION: These cases provide examples of the successful use of PRF to reduce pathological root resorption of the avulsed teeth, and the application of PRF may provide new healing opportunities for traditionally “hopeless” avulsed teeth.