The objective of this study was to evaluate local tissue reactions at silk, chromic gut, polypropylene, polyester, and polyglactin 910 suture materials for intraoral applications. One hundred eighteen sutures were placed into the palatal mucosa of 26 male New Zealand rabbits so that each animal included all five biomaterials. The animals were fed a soft diet and decapitated 2, 4, or 8 days after suture placement. Soft tissue specimens including suture materials were prepared for light microscopy to determine the inflammatory zones including eosinophil infiltration on the suture tract. No significant differences were observed in the sutural zone diameter (Z1) between the suture materials at the 2nd day. At the 4th day, polypropylene and catgut had a lesser Z1 diameter compared to polyglactin 910. Dacron presented the widest mean Z1 diameter compared to polyglactin 910 (p<0.01), catgut (p<0.01), polypropylene (p<0.05) and silk (p<0.05) at the 8th day. On the day 8, the largest mean Z2 diameter was observed in dacron group compared to the mean Z2 values of catgut (p<0.05) and polyglactin 910 (p<0.01). Also the mean Z2 values of silk were significantly wider compared to polyglactin 910 (p<0.05). There was no difference between the eosinophil scores of the suture materials (p>0.05). Within the limitations of the present study, it may be said that silk and dakron sutures apparently induced more severe inflammatory reactions. When selecting a suture material for intraoral use the surgeons should take into consideration the tissue reaction caused by materials.
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