Treatment of gingival recession.
BACKGROUND
Gingival recession is an intriguing and complex phenomenon. Patients frequently are disturbed by recession owing to sensitivity and esthetics. Many techniques have been introduced to treat gingival recession, including connective tissue grafting, or CTG; various flap designs; orthodontics; and guided tissue regeneration, or GTR. The authors reviewed human clinical studies to assess which techniques provided optimal results.


METHODS
The authors reviewed controlled clinical trials to assess the outcome of gingival grafting. They also included histological studies in this article to elucidate the type of healing after those procedures were performed.


RESULTS
The studies showed that the combination of CTG and coronally positioned flaps yielded a higher percentage of root coverage compared with other techniques. When GTR using bioabsorbable or nonbioabsorbable membranes was compared with CTG, the studies were inconclusive. Some studies found that GTR was as effective as CTG, while the others found that CTG was superior.


CONCLUSIONS
Gingival grafting to treat recession is a predictable and reliable periodontal procedure.
Kassab
Moawia M
MM
Department of Periodontics and Endodontics, School of Dental Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA. mmkassab@hotmail.com
Cohen
Robert E
RE
D000818:Animals; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000637:transplantation; D005881:Gingiva / Q000637:transplantation; D005889:Gingival Recession / Q000601:surgery*; D005893:Gingivoplasty / Q000379:methods*; D016557:Guided Tissue Regeneration, Periodontal; D006801:Humans; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D013524:Surgical Flaps
D008567:Membranes, Artificial