The legacy of Emdogain®: Emdogain® FL for flapless procedures

Improved patient comfort - minimally invasive and without flap surgery

Can Emdogain® users avoid the surgical procedure without forgoing all the benefits of preparation? Emdogain® has scrutinized the needs and expectations of the clinician, and around three decades after Prof. Lars Hammarström’s discovery, Emdogain® has again assumed a pioneering role as a biomaterial solution in periodontics. With the Emdogain® FL (for flapless use) treatment approach introduced at IDS in 2019, Straumann was the first to offer minimally invasive sustainable periodontal tissue regeneration without creating a flap.

A procedure that is simple, practical and both user-friendly and patient-friendly

This new approach answered a long-standing call to further reduce surgical procedures within periodontology and to offer patients more gentle procedures without sacrificing the quality of the overall result. In the pain assessment, there are clear advantages to a less invasive procedure and patients are more like to sign up to treatment without a scalpel, which actually also makes it easier to preserve teeth over the long term. The procedure is simple, practical and both user-friendly and patient-friendly¹ and contributes to an improved quality of life for patients by reducing pain, swelling² and the levels of systemic markers of inflammation.

Renowned periodontists recommend the use of Emdogain® FL for periodontal treatment of pockets with depths of between 5 and 9 mm and no furcation involvement.³ Treatment falls neatly into three steps:

1) After appropriate anesthesia, the gums are gently pushed back to access the affected root surface.

2) Mechanical debridement is performed. The root surface should be as clean as possible so that Emdogain® can develop its effect.

3) After rinsing with sterile saline solution, conditioning the root surface with Straumann® PrefGel® (EDTA, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) and rinsing again, Emdogain® FL can be applied into the periodontal pocket. The introduction of a suitable applicator enables Emdogain® FL to be applied into the periodontal pocket after scaling and root planing without the need to prepare a flap. The gingival margin is then carefully adapted against the tooth until the gum surrounds the tooth.

Emdogain® FL stimulates periodontal regeneration^4,5, while bleeding on probing (BOP) and probing depth (PPD) are significantly reduced⁶ and more periodontal pockets can be removed with a closed subgingival cleaning process.⁷