Purpose: The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate and compare the clinical efficacy of horizontal alveolar ridge augmentation techniques described by Khoury and Urban.
Methods: A systematic electronic search in the MEDLINE databases, SCOPUS, WOS, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) as well as a manual search, were conducted independently by two reviewers up to July 2021.
Results: Six studies met the pre-established inclusion criteria and were included in the descriptive analysis. Due to the heterogeneity found across the included studies, meta-analysis could not be performed. Horizontal bone gain was between 3.93 ± 0.9 mm and 5.02 ± 0.8 mm with the Khoury technique and between 3.9 ± 0.9 mm and 5.68 ± 1.42 mm with the Urban technique. Similar complication rates were reported in both groups: infection (7%), in the Khoury technique, and membrane exposure (3.2-13.6%), in the Urban technique, being the most frequent events.
Conclusions: Both techniques were found to be effective, in terms of clinical bone gain, for horizontal alveolar ridge gain. Nevertheless, available literature is limited, and there is a lack of comparative studies to better evaluate the results.
Keywords: bone graft; dental implants; guided bone regeneration; horizontal bone augmentation.