Characterizing the Effects of Platelet-Rich Fibrin (PRF) as a Palatal Wound Dressing on Quality of Life and Sleep Following Mucogingival Surgery. Study Was Conducted at the Air Force Post Graduate Dental School. All HIPPA Consents and Research Informed Consents Are Located at JBSA-Lackland.

Characterizing the Effects of Leukocyte-Platelet-Rich Fibrin on Sleep and Perceived Quality of Life on Mucogingival Periodontal Surgery Healing. Arm 1: Influence of Platelet-rich Fibrin on Quality of Life Following Mucogingival Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

The goal of this clinical trial (2-arm) is to determine if the application of platelet rich fibrin (PRF) to palatal donor sites influence patients quality of life, sleep efficiency, and healing following mucogingival surgery. All patients were enrolled in the Air Force Post Graduate Dental School periodontics program and each patient required mucogingival surgery. The main question[s] it aims to answer [is/are]:

• Does the application of PRF to palatal donor sites influence patient's quality of life following mucogingival surgery. [outcome measure 1]
• Does the application of PRF to palatal donor sites influence patient's sleep quality following mucogingival surgery. [outcome measure 2]
• Does the application of PRF to palatal donor sites influence palatal healing following mucogingival surgery. [outcome measure 3] Researchers will compare the application of PRF (test) as a palatal dressing to a commercially available product (control; oxidized cellulose membrane or collagen dressing) to determine the difference of effects.

Participants will be randomly assigned to either receiving PRF or a commercially available product on the day of surgery. A survey response will be conducted at five time points (pre-operative, 24-hours, 72 hours, 1 week, 2 week) to obtain a quality of life metric. Sleep data was collected via a wearable device one week pre-surgical intervention and two weeks postoperatively. Finally, a clinical healing index was performed at 1 and 2 weeks post-operatively to obtain a healing score.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Pain; Sleep Quality; Platelet Rich Fibrin; Palatal Donor Site Wound Healing; Analgesic Consumption
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Platelet rich fibrin; Other: Control Group: collagen matrices or oxidized cellulose membrane

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 78
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • San Antonio, Texas, United States, 78236
      • Air Force Post Graduate Dental School

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• age > 18 or < 99
• required a mucogingival surgery
• had not taken an antibiotic for one month
• planned for a non-emergent periodontal procedure

Exclusion Criteria:

• pregnant or within 6 months post-partum
• female subjects who are nursing
• subjects who are decisionally challenged
• patients who have undergone antibiotic therapy in the past month
• ASA IV or higher status
• patients who have undergone chronic therapy with medications that could affect periodontal status or healing
• incompatible mobile phone devices.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Quality of Life; The Qualtrics survey tool sent out automated emails at 24 hours, 72 hours, 1-week and 2-week time points from the time of pre-surgery survey completion. Surveys included: (1) OHIP-14 questionnaire, which includes 14 questions related to seven different patient domains; (2) What is your pain at the palatal harvest site on a scale of 0-10? (NRS-11); and (3) Did you take any mediation today to relieve pain or swelling? (yes/no).	Procedure: Platelet rich fibrin; The test group had approximately 40 ml of whole venous blood collected from their antecubital fossa (R/L) prior to surgical start for the fabrication of PRF. Tubes were placed immediately into a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved horizontal centrifuge (Horizon 6 Drucker Diagnostics; Port Matilda, PA), and spun at 2300 rpm (700 g) for 16 min. After the centrifugation was complete, the PRF matrices were compressed into membranes. At the completion of surgery, PRF membranes (1-3) were used as a wound dressing at the harvest site. A palatal stent was used to secure the PRF via compression only, and no sutures were utilized for fixation at the harvest sites. Patients were instructed not to remove the palatal stent for 48 hours.; Other: Control Group: collagen matrices or oxidized cellulose membrane; On the day of surgery, subjects randomized into the control group had a commercially available product of the surgeons choice (collagen matrices or oxidized cellulose membrane) placed at the palatal donor site. The matrix was compressed with a palatal stent and subjects were instructed to not remove the stent for 48 hours.
Experimental: Sleep Quality; After informed consent is obtained at the pre-op appointment, subjects undergoing mucogingival surgery will be given a sleep monitoring device (SleepImage® Ring 2019, SleepImage, Denver, CO) and will complete a baseline QoL (Qualtrics XM®, 2002, Qualtrics, Seattle WA). The sleep monitoring app will be downloaded on subjects' phones and each subject will be briefed on the function of the application. Subjects will be instructed to wear the device nightly throughout the study. The subject will be instructed to complete the same QoL questionnaire at 24 hours, and 72 hours, as well as at the one-week and two-week post-operative appointments.	Procedure: Platelet rich fibrin; The test group had approximately 40 ml of whole venous blood collected from their antecubital fossa (R/L) prior to surgical start for the fabrication of PRF. Tubes were placed immediately into a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved horizontal centrifuge (Horizon 6 Drucker Diagnostics; Port Matilda, PA), and spun at 2300 rpm (700 g) for 16 min. After the centrifugation was complete, the PRF matrices were compressed into membranes. At the completion of surgery, PRF membranes (1-3) were used as a wound dressing at the harvest site. A palatal stent was used to secure the PRF via compression only, and no sutures were utilized for fixation at the harvest sites. Patients were instructed not to remove the palatal stent for 48 hours.; Other: Control Group: collagen matrices or oxidized cellulose membrane; On the day of surgery, subjects randomized into the control group had a commercially available product of the surgeons choice (collagen matrices or oxidized cellulose membrane) placed at the palatal donor site. The matrix was compressed with a palatal stent and subjects were instructed to not remove the stent for 48 hours.
Experimental: Healing; At 1- and 2- weeks, patients returned for post-operative appointments. At the follow-up appointment the surgeons were asked to document the presence of suppuration or bleeding at the palatal wound site. A standardized photograph was then taken with the following parameters (F-stop: 29, ISO: 200, Shutter Speed: 125). Three calibrated, blinded examiners then assessed the palatal wound based on the Landry et al palatal healing index.	Procedure: Platelet rich fibrin; The test group had approximately 40 ml of whole venous blood collected from their antecubital fossa (R/L) prior to surgical start for the fabrication of PRF. Tubes were placed immediately into a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved horizontal centrifuge (Horizon 6 Drucker Diagnostics; Port Matilda, PA), and spun at 2300 rpm (700 g) for 16 min. After the centrifugation was complete, the PRF matrices were compressed into membranes. At the completion of surgery, PRF membranes (1-3) were used as a wound dressing at the harvest site. A palatal stent was used to secure the PRF via compression only, and no sutures were utilized for fixation at the harvest sites. Patients were instructed not to remove the palatal stent for 48 hours.; Other: Control Group: collagen matrices or oxidized cellulose membrane; On the day of surgery, subjects randomized into the control group had a commercially available product of the surgeons choice (collagen matrices or oxidized cellulose membrane) placed at the palatal donor site. The matrix was compressed with a palatal stent and subjects were instructed to not remove the stent for 48 hours.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Quality of Life: OHIP-14 summative scores utilized as a quality of life metric at five different time points. These scores were compared between the test and control group.	The Qualtrics survey tool sent out automated emails at 24 hours, 72 hours, 1-week and 2-week time points from the time of pre-surgery survey completion. Surveys included: (1) OHIP-14 questionnaire, which includes 14 questions related to seven different patient domains; (2) What is your pain at the palatal harvest site on a scale of 0-10? (NRS-11); and (3) Did you take any mediation today to relieve pain or swelling? (yes/no). The additive OHIP-14 score served as the primary outcome variable. The quality of life survey was completed pre-surgically, 24 hours, 72 hours, 1 week, and 2 weeks.	Pre-surgical survey to 2 weeks following surgical intervention.
Sleep Quality: sleep efficiency index obtained from wearable device.	A sleep monitoring device was issued to patients following informed consent (SleepImage® Ring 2019, SleepImage, Denver, CO). The sleep monitoring app will be downloaded on subjects' phones and each subject will be briefed on the function of the application. Subjects will be instructed to wear the device nightly throughout the study.	1 week pre-surgery to 2-weeks following surgical intervention.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Pain: a numeric pain scale (0-10) was used to document site specific palatal harvest pain.	The Qualtrics survey tool sent out automated emails at 24 hours, 72 hours, 1-week and 2-week time points from the time of pre-surgery survey completion. Survey question: What is your pain at the palatal harvest site on a scale of 0-10? (NRS-11)	From pre-surgery survey, final survey was 2 weeks post surgical intervention.
Analgesic Consumption: a survey tool was used to document patients medication use post-surgery.	The Qualtrics survey tool sent out automated emails at 24 hours, 72 hours, 1-week and 2-week time points from the time of pre-surgery survey completion. Survey question: Did you take any mediation today to relieve pain or swelling? (yes/no).	From pre-surgery survey to two weeks post surgical intervention.
Physiologic Healing at Palatal Donor Site: 5-point healing scale	At the follow-up appointment the surgeons were asked to document the presence of suppuration or bleeding at the palatal wound site. A standardized photograph was then taken with the following parameters (F-stop: 29, ISO: 200, Shutter Speed: 125). Three calibrated, blinded examiners then assessed the palatal wound based on the Landry et al palatal healing index.	Healing was assessed at 1-week and 2-weeks post surgical intervention.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: 59th Medical Wing

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 24, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 18, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): March 18, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 26, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 4, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): June 10, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 10, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 4, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: pain; quality of life; wound healing; platelet-rich fibrin; palate
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Sleep Wake Disorders; Sleep Disorders, Intrinsic; Dyssomnias; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Pain; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: FWH2024005H

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: All de-identified participant date sets are to be shared upon request.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Beginning 3 months and ending 3 years after the publication of results.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: The Air Force Post Graduate Dental School will be in charge of allowing access to IPD upon request.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No