14-Year Outcomes of Coronally Advanced Flap for Root Coverage: Follow-up from a Randomized Trial

International audienceTrial design: This long-term 14-year-randomized split-mouth study aimed at evaluating (1) the outcomes of two different methods of root surface modifications (root surface polishing vs. root-planing) used in combination with coronally advanced flap (CAF) and (2) the long-term results of CAF performed for the treatment of single gingival recessions. Methods: Ten patients with similar bilateral recessions ≥ 2mm were selected for a split-mouth randomized design study. Exposed root surfaces were assigned to receive polishing (test sites) or root planing (control sites). A multilevel model was used to analyze data at 3 months, 1, 5 and 14 years. Results: One patient dropped-out after 1 year. At 14 years recession depth was 0.9 (1.2) mm for test sites and 0.9 (0.9) mm for control sites. The interaction between treatment and keratinized tissue (KT) was significant (p=0.0035). Recession depths increased slightly over time (p=0.0006) in both groups. Conclusions: This study shows that during a long-term follow-up, gingival recession recurred in 39% of the treated sites following CAF procedur