PRP vs PRF

Bioregeneration with autologous plasma and platelet extracts, known as PRP (plasma rich platelets), is a technique that uses the body's own biochemical regeneration mechanisms.

Thus, a plasma and platelet extract obtained from the patient's blood by centrifugation is used, containing a large amount of growth factors.

The end effect is accelerated bone healing, promotion of fibroblast proliferation and increased tissue vascularisation. In some cases a reduction in post-operative pain has been reported, both in duration and intensity. The healing-acceleration effects are visible both for hard tissues (bone) and for soft tissues (gum).

In practice it has been found that applying PRP plasma during dental surgery doubles, on average, the speed of tissue healing and shortens waiting times.

PRF (plasma rich fibrin) is considered the next generation of PRP. To understand what PRF is, we must understand how fibrin acts. Blood platelets present in the blood bind to fibrin molecules to form the clot needed for wound healing. Following this bond, the platelets release numerous growth factors that initiate the healing process by creating new collagen fibres, capillary vessels and cells.

Why is PRF superior to PRP?

Specialist studies say that PRF determines the release of growth factors over a longer period (as a result of gradual release from the fibrin structure), of up to 10 years, at a constant rate, unlike PRP whose remanence is much shorter, of up to 60 minutes (the maximum level is reached, then the quantity begins to fall).

Also, the concentration of blood cells involved in the healing process (platelets, leukocytes, stem cells and the cytokines they release) is found at a concentration 10 times higher in PRF compared with PRP.

In other words, preparing PRP requires drawing a larger quantity of blood, the centrifugation process is longer, and the resulting product is only in liquid form, to allow the practitioner time for manipulation.

Through centrifugation of PRP, white blood cells and stem cells separate into the lower portion of the tube, and are thus not involved in tissue reconstruction and regeneration.

For preparing PRP, the tubes in which blood is collected contain anticoagulants, which inhibit the regenerative capacity of the product. Because PRF contains no anticoagulants at all, natural fibrinogen turns into a fibrin network that acts as a matrix for activating blood platelets and the slow release of growth factors responsible for initiating and carrying out the healing process.

In dental medicine, PRF, through its subdivisions A-PRF and I-PRF, is used in muco-gingival surgery and dento-alveolar surgery (implantology), but studies also show the benefits of this preparation in other branches of general medicine (rheumatology, dermatology, orthopaedics, etc.).