What are the advantages of a-PRF™ ?

Dr. Alexandros Papasotiriou and his team are proud to be among the very few dental centers that offer the a-PRF™ method, which enhances and supports healing as part of a dental procedure.

The advantages of the a-PRF™ procedure are:

• Faster healing
• Less post-operative swelling and pain
• Increased vascularization in the operated area
• Lower risk of infection and complications – especially in complex cases
• Better and faster bone regeneration
• The a-PRF™ is a 100% natural method since we isolate growth factors from the patient’s own blood.

How does the a-PRF™ method actually work?

 

The goal of this method is to collect an a-PRF ™ clot – platelet rich fibrin – from the patient’s own blood.

This clot is rich in leukocytes and growth factors such as:

– VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor),
– PDGF ( Platelet Derived Growth Factor), a protein vital for new blood vessel formation,
– TGF (beta–Τransforming Growth Factor), ), a protein that stimulates tissue growth.
– Thrombospondin-1, , a glycoprotein that participates in intercellular interactions and angiogenesis.

These growth factors help the body heal by activating stem cells to regenerate new tissues. The more growth factors are released during healing, the more stem cells will be activated to produce new tissue.

It is obvious that a-PRF™ allows the body to heal faster and more efficiently.

 

 

What is the difference between PRP and a-PRF?

A-PRF (Platelet Rich Fibrin) therapy is the development of the well-known PRP therapy.
The PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) method isolates plasma ( rich in platelets and growth factors), which comes in liquid and injectable form.

To prevent plasma from setting, we use anticoagulants that stop the normal clotting process. With the PRP method we have immediate and rapid release of growth factors into the injection site.

 

With the a-PRF™ method, we also collect platelet-rich plasma and growth factors, with the exception that we do not add anticoagulants, resulting in plasma coagulation and clot formation.
The main advantage of the a-PRF™ method is that the clot releases the growth factors slowly, over a period of 7 days, delivering excellent results in vascularization, healing and regeneration of the gums and bone, especially in dental procedures.

a-PRF™ – How is it done?

The a-PRF™ method is a relatively simple procedure. We draw the blood , just like when doing blood tests (1), and then place the glass tubes into the centrifuge (2).

By following certain protocols, we separate the solid from the liquid parts of the blood and isolate the clot (3), which can be shaped it various forms (4) before being inserted it into the mouth.

 

Indications of the a-PRF™ method

Since a-PRF™ multiplies the body’s natural healing ability, there is a wide range of applications in dentistry, such as:
Dental Implants – SmileToday (1)
Bone Regeneration, such as Jaw Augmentation or Sinus Lift procedures (2)
Tooth extraction – Wisdom tooth removal (3)
Gum Regeneration (4)
Cosmetic Periodontal Surgery (5)

The regenerative clot can be shaped into various shapes and forms: a membrane, a plug, many small pieces or even in liquid form. Most of the time we use a combination of different forms, depending on the case and the shape of the defect.