Nowadays, bone augmentation can be conducted on the basis of a large variety of basic materials, including material not originating from humans (xenogeneic). In most of these cases, dentists tend to draw on cattle bone (bovine). Pig bone (porcine) or horse bone represent possible alternatives.
Bovine material is particularly well researched and usually results in reliable bone fusion. However, there are also cases in which the bone replacement material does not fuse sufficiently with the patient’s own bone tissue. In addition, cattle bone tends to be prone to all kinds of (bacterial) contamination through saliva, which is why infections and losses of bone replacement material frequently occur during the healing period. As a foreign material, bovine material is subject to a disclosure obligation and is comparatively expensive. The debate on BSE ended up resulting in a limited use of bovine material to this day.