Free gingival grafts to increase keratinized tissue: a retrospective long-term evaluation (10 to 25 years) of outcomes

A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by Dr Trevor Watts.

Abstract

Where sites devoid of attached gingiva were treated, the gingival margin moved coronally over a long period of time.

Main

Agudio G, Nieri M et al. J Periodontol 2008; 79: 587–594

In recession sites where free mucosal grafts have been performed, there has sometimes been a tendency for the gingival margin to creep coronally with time. In this Italian study of 224 teeth in 105 subjects (19 smokers), 76 teeth were treated with a graft placed at the gingival margin (MG), and 148 with a graft placed apically to the margin (SMG).

In the MG group, mean recession decreased from 3.2 to 2.1 mm 1 yr postoperatively, and to 1.3 mm at final follow-up after 10-25 yrs. Respective data for the SMG group were 2.2, 1.6 and 1.0 mm. The mean probing depth remained constant at 1 mm throughout. The authors noted that only 2 recessions increased slightly and attribute the protection of the vast majority of sites to the surgical procedure.