Alveolar Ridge Augmentation using Customized Zirconia Membranes: A Systematic Review

Since the inception of intraosseous implants, the significance of alveolar bone volume has become crucial in formulating treatment plans for dental implants. Various barrier membranes have been extensively employed in alveolar ridge reconstruction, highlighting their efficacy. Recent advancements include the fabrication of customized barrier membranes using multiple materials, with titanium and zirconia being prominent choices. The objective of this study was to conduct a comprehensive review of all clinical studies, case reports, and case series that utilized customized zirconia membranes for alveolar ridge augmentation.

An electronic literature search was performed to find relevant clinical studies, case reports, and case series published in English up to August 2024. The following keywords used in the search were customized zirconia membrane, alveolar ridge augmentation, Guided bone regeneration, zirconia sheet, ceramic sheet, and Personalized membrane. The quality assessment was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal checklist specific to each type of study.

The electronic search initially yielded 539 articles. Following deduplication, 263 unique articles remained. Subsequent manual screening of titles and abstracts led to the exclusion of 250 articles, resulting in 13 remaining articles. After conducting a thorough full-text assessment of these 13 articles to verify adherence to the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 6 articles were further excluded, leaving a total of 7 articles included in this review.

While all studies included in this review were case series or case reports, customized zirconia membranes have demonstrated effectiveness in the literature for alveolar ridge augmentation, facilitating the placement of dental implants in all cases with relatively low complication rates, particularly membrane exposure. There is currently no literature evidence supporting the superiority of zirconia over other materials used in customized fabrication, nor is there evidence of superior design or preferred bone grafting under these membranes.