Mucoperiosteal flap surgery (MPS) of the mouth is conducted in several clinical situations. However, MPS triggers a resorption process that leads to alveolar bone ridge loss. Rodents are routinely used in studies evaluating alveolar bone loss (ABL), and the experimental time involved in these experiments is usually 21 days. This study aims at establishing whether the alveolar bone resorption area differs between 10 and 21 days after MPS in mice mandibles. MPS was performed in the vestibular

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... ct of the left mandible (LM) of 20 male CF1 mice Mus domesticus. The right mandible (RM) was used as control. Animals formed identical groups for each experimental time. Animals were euthanized 10 days (ten days group, TG) or 21 days (twenty one days group, TWG) after the surgical procedure. All mandibles were hemisectioned, cleaned and stained for stereomicroscopic inspection. Digital images were obtained and the alveolar bone loss area measured (mm2) using image analysis software. The results demonstrate that a significant loss is observed in the left mandible (LM) (Student's t test, p<0.01), as compared to the RM, in both groups. No statistically significant difference was observed in the ABL area (p>0.05) between TWG and TG. This investigation leads to the conclusion that it is possible to reduce experimental times when using the MPS model in mice.