Reimplantation of freeze-treated and saline-treated mandibular bone.
Mandibular bone devitalized by freezing after removal from the body and subsequently reimplanted was observed for its potential to reunite and grow in comparison to a similar saline-treated section of bone from the same animal. After a year, there were no significant discernible clinical or histological differences between the slaine-treated and the frozen bone. Approximately the same amount of histologically indistinguishable bone formed in either instance. The results suggest that a partially resected mandible subjected to freezing maintains the same capacity to act as an autogenous graft as does bone partially devitalized by immersion in saline solution.