Long-term 8-year outcomes of coronally advanced flap for root coverage.
BACKGROUND
This long-term 8-year case series study aims at evaluating the results of the outcomes of coronally advanced flap (CAF) procedures performed for the treatment of single gingival recessions (GRs).


METHODS
Sixty patients with single maxillary GRs ≥ 2 mm, without loss of interproximal soft and hard tissue, treated with the CAF procedure and evaluated at 6 months in a previously published article, were followed for 8 years. Complete root coverage, recession reduction, and amount of keratinized tissue (KT) were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the paired t test, McNemar test, and a general linear model.


RESULTS
Three patients dropped out during the course of 8 years. Recession reduction from baseline to 8 years was 2.3 ± 1.1 mm; P <0.0001, whereas GRs increased in 53% of the sites from 6 months to 8 years (0.5 ± 0.7 mm; P <0.0001). The percentage of sites with complete root coverage decreased from 55% at 6 months to 35% at 8 years (P = 0.0047). The amount of KT tended to decrease from baseline to 8 years (0.6 ± 0.8 mm; P <0.0001). The general linear model shows that recession reduction is associated with both baseline recession depth and with the amount of initial KT. Sex, age, and smoking are not associated with recession reduction at 8 years.


CONCLUSIONS
The CAF procedure is effective in the treatment of GRs However, recession relapse and reduction of KT occurred during the follow-up period. The baseline width of KT is a predictive factor for recession reduction when using the CAF technique.
Department of Periodontology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. gpinipr@tin.it
Giovanpaolo
G
Pini-Prato
Debora
D
Franceschi
Roberto
R
Rotundo
Francesco
F
Cairo
Pierpaolo
P
Cortellini
Michele
M
Nieri
D000328:Adult; D004848:Epithelium / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005889:Gingival Recession / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007633:Keratins; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods; D012008:Recurrence; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
D007633:Keratins