Background and purpose: Closure of the alveolar cleft using bone grafts is very important in patients with alveolar cleft. Adjunct use of platelet rich fibrin (PRF) with bone graft enhances the bone volume. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of grafting by allografts with PRF in stability of bone volume following alveolar cleft grafting using radiographic scales.

Materials and methods: A clinical trial was conducted in 10 patients (6 females and 4 males) with unilateral alveolar cleft. After applying Freeze Demineralized Bone Allograft (FDBA) in the cleft site, half of the patients received PRF on the graft site while the rest (control group) did not receive it. Prior the surgery, 6 months, and 1 year after surgery CBCT radiographs were obtained to evaluate the changes in bone volume. Data was analyzed in SPSS with 95% of confidence interval. Shapiro- wilk, Bonferroni, and Spearman analytical tests were used in this study.

Results: Both the control and intervention groups included 2 males and 3 females (mean age: 9.25± 1.83 years). No significant difference was observed in the mean age of participants (P>0.05). Changes in bone volume during the study period were significant in both groups (P<0.001); in fact the bone volume decreased after 6 months and increased after 12 months. Baseline bone volume was not significantly different between the two groups (P>0.05). But, 6 and 12 month follow-ups showed significantly higher bone volume in intervention group compared with the control group (P <0.05).

Conclusion: Using PRF in combination with FDBA could enhance the process of bone augmentation and decrease bone loss in the alveolar cleft sites.