Histomorphological examination
Tissue biopsies were immersed in 10% neutral formalin solution for 24 h with the trephines.Thereafter, samples were dehydrated with alcohol gradients after flushing, and embedded with polymethyl methacrylate. The samples were sectioned opposite to the long axis of the biopsy, and five tissue sections of 600 µm thicknesses (1 mm spacing) were collected for each piece, polished to a final thickness of 50–100 µm, and stained with McNeal’s tetrachrome staining. The Image Pro Plus program (version 6.0, Media Cybernetics) was used to calculate the area of new bone, the residual material, and the unmineralized tissue at the center slice of the biopsy (Fig. Light micrographs of biopsy slice (diameter 1.1 mm) in the natural healing group (