PRF: Using Your Own Blood to Heal Better After Dental Surgery

In the Austin area? Dr. Verrett provides this care in North Austin. See Bone Grafting for Dental Implants, or request a consult.

Most of what a surgeon puts into a healing site comes from somewhere else: donor bone, bovine mineral, a membrane from a manufacturer. Platelet-rich fibrin, PRF, is the exception. It is made from the patient’s own blood at the start of the visit, with nothing added, and placed where the body is trying to heal. Austin Periodontal Associates uses it in most surgeries. This article explains what it is, where the research shows it helps, where it does not, and why it is worth asking your surgeon about.

What PRF Is

A small sample of blood is drawn from the arm and spun in a centrifuge for a few minutes. Without any additive, the blood separates into layers. The middle layer is a soft gel rich in platelets, white blood cells and fibrin, the protein the body uses to form a clot. It can be used as a gel, pressed into a thin flexible membrane, or mixed with bone graft material to make it easier to shape and hold in place.

PRF was introduced in 2006 by Dohan, Choukroun and colleagues as a “second-generation” platelet concentrate. Unlike the earlier platelet-rich plasma, it needs no anticoagulant or bovine thrombin. Its authors described its slowly forming fibrin network as very similar to the body’s own, which supports the movement of healing cells into the site.

The appeal is simple: it is the patient’s own tissue, it is prepared in the office in minutes, and it is inexpensive compared with manufactured growth factors.

Where the Evidence Shows It Helps

Regenerating bone lost to gum disease

Deep, narrow bone defects beside a tooth (intrabony defects) are the most studied use.

• A 2025 meta-analysis of 55 randomized trials by Miron, Sculean, Jepsen and colleagues found that adding PRF to flap surgery significantly reduced pocket depth, gained attachment and increased bone fill compared with surgery alone. PRF on its own gave results similar to bone grafts, Emdogain and membranes. Adding PRF to a bone graft improved results over the graft alone.
• An independent 2017 review by Castro and colleagues at the University of Leuven found PRF added 1.1 millimeters of pocket reduction, 1.2 millimeters of attachment gain and 1.7 millimeters of bone fill over flap surgery alone.
• An umbrella review of systematic reviews by Ardila and colleagues reached the same conclusion: platelet concentrates gave greater attachment gain, pocket reduction and bone fill than surgery alone.

Bone loss between the roots of molars

For Class II furcation defects, a 2025 meta-analysis of 21 randomized trials by Miron and colleagues found PRF with flap surgery significantly reduced pocket depth and improved attachment compared with flap surgery alone. Its results were similar to bone grafts, membranes and other biologics. Castro’s review found 1.3 millimeters more attachment gain and 1.5 millimeters more bone fill than flap surgery alone.

Covering exposed roots

A 2020 meta-analysis of 17 randomized trials by Miron and colleagues found that adding PRF to a coronally advanced flap improved root coverage and attachment compared with the flap alone. But a connective tissue graft gave better root coverage and more firm gum than PRF. The authors suggested PRF where there is already enough firm gum, and a connective tissue graft where there is not. That matches this office’s approach: donor tissue or your own? explains why connective tissue remains the standard.

Healing and pain where tissue is taken from the palate

Gum grafts that use the patient’s own tissue leave a wound in the palate, and it is usually the sorest part of the surgery. A 2025 review of 28 clinical studies by Farshidfar and colleagues found PRF placed in the palatal wound improved healing, reduced pain and complications, lowered pain medication use and improved quality of life. The Estrin review found lower pain in 72 to 85 percent of studies of palatal harvesting and wisdom tooth removal.

Preserving bone after an extraction

After a tooth is removed, the bone around the socket shrinks. A 2026 meta-analysis of 18 studies by Yan and colleagues found sockets treated with PRF lost significantly less height and width than sockets left to heal on their own, and formed more new bone at three and four months. A 2018 systematic review by Strauss and colleagues for the European Association for Osseointegration found moderate evidence for PRF’s benefit in ridge preservation and in the early phase of implant integration.

Wisdom teeth and dry socket

Dry socket is a painful complication when the clot in an extraction socket breaks down. An umbrella review of 19 systematic reviews by Monsalves Morales and colleagues found PRF consistently reduced dry socket after lower wisdom tooth removal, to between a fifth and two-fifths of the usual rate, and reduced early pain. An earlier review by Miron and colleagues found PRF reduced dry socket after wisdom tooth removal about tenfold.

Soft tissue healing generally

Across dental surgery, the strongest and most consistent findings for PRF are in soft tissue: faster, more comfortable healing of gum and palatal wounds. The 2017 review by Miron and colleagues concluded that PRF improves soft tissue regeneration and limits dimensional changes after extraction.

Where the Evidence Is Weaker

• Sinus lifts. In a 2024 meta-analysis of 30 studies by Qiu and colleagues, PRF did not significantly increase new bone formation or sinus floor height. It is used in sinus lifts to help the graft handle and to protect the membrane, not as a substitute for bone graft.
• The gap around an immediate implant. A 2026 review by Pliatkute and colleagues found PRF alone did less well than bone substitute alone in filling the gap. A bone graft does that job, with PRF added where it helps healing.
• Bone rebuilding on its own. The 2017 Miron review found little direct evidence that PRF alone builds bone in larger ridge grafts. Its value there is as an addition to a bone graft, where the 2025 intrabony meta-analysis found it improved results.

In short, PRF works best as a partner to proven techniques, not a replacement for them.

A Note on Who Does the Research

Much of the recent PRF research, including several of the largest reviews cited here, comes from a group led by Dr. Richard Miron, who holds patents and trademarks related to PRF and discloses them in these papers. That does not make the findings wrong, but it is worth knowing. Independent groups, such as Castro and colleagues in Leuven, Strauss and colleagues for the European Association for Osseointegration, and Ardila and colleagues, have reached similar conclusions about PRF’s benefits for gum regeneration and soft tissue healing.

Questions to Ask Your Surgeon

• Will PRF be used in my surgery, and what is it expected to add?
• Will it be used with a bone graft, or instead of one?
• If tissue is being taken from my palate, will PRF be placed there?
• Is there any reason a blood draw would be a problem for me, such as difficult veins or a medical condition?

PRF in This Office

Dr. Andrew Verrett is a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology and the only doctor at Austin Periodontal Associates in North Austin. He uses PRF in almost every surgery: with bone grafts, in extraction sockets, in gum regeneration, over palatal donor sites, and around implants. He draws the blood himself at the start of the visit, and the PRF is prepared in the office while the surgery begins. It adds a few minutes and no foreign material. Technology describes the equipment, and bone grafting and gum disease treatment describe the surgeries it supports. Request a consult or call (512) 346-6097.