Fourteen peer-reviewed papers, case reports, and a book chapter spanning the biology of bone and its clinical application in periodontics, implant surgery, and oral and maxillofacial medicine.
Dr. Gretel G. Pellegrini brings a rare dual perspective to periodontics: formal training in bone biology at the bench alongside clinical expertise in periodontal and implant surgery at the chair. Before completing her specialty training, she spent years studying the cellular and molecular regulation of bone remodeling — investigating how oxidative stress and the Nrf2 antioxidant pathway shape bone mass across sex and age, how nutritional factors like dietary polyphenols and vitamin D protect the skeleton, and how hormonal and mechanical signals through the PTH/PTHrP–osteocyte axis control bone formation. This work, conducted through osteoporosis and bone metabolism laboratories, gave her a mechanistic understanding of skeletal biology that most clinicians never acquire.
She has carried that foundation directly into oral and maxillofacial research, developing a large-animal model of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw and dental implant failure, evaluating the biocompatibility and osteoconductivity of novel bone grafting materials, and validating salivary biomarkers of bone turnover as a noninvasive way to monitor skeletal and periodontal health. Her clinical case work, including innovative minimally invasive approaches to root fragment removal and implant placement, reflects the same evidence-driven rigor.
The result is a research and clinical practice grounded not just in surgical technique, but in a deep understanding of why bone behaves the way it does — in osteoporosis, in antiresorptive therapy, in grafting, and in implant success — giving her patients a level of insight that goes well beyond standard periodontal training.