GTR with bioabsorbable membrane in the treatment of human gingival recession defects

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of GTR procedure in comparison to subpedicle connective tissue graft (SCTG) in the treatment of gingival recession defects. A total of 12 patients, each contributing a pair of Miller's Class I or II buccal gingival recessions was treated. According to a randomization list, in each patient one defect received a polyglycolide/lactide bioabsorbable membrane, while the paired defect received a SCTG. Treatment effect was evaluated 6 months postsurgery. Clinical recordings included full-mouth and defect-specific oral hygiene standards and gingival health, recession depth (RD), recession width (RW), probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL) and keratinized tissue (KT). Mean RD significantly decreased from 3.1 mm presurgery to 1.5 mm at 6 months postsurgery fo the GTR group (48% root coverage), and from 3.0 mm to 0.5 mm for the SCTG group (81% root coverage). RD reduction and root coverage were significantly greater in SCTG group compared to GTR group. No significant differences in PD changes were observed within and between groups. KT increased significantly from presurgery for both treatment groups, however gingival augmentation was significantly greater in the SCTG group compared to GTR group. Results indicate that 1) treatment of human gingival recession defects by means of both GTR and SCTG procedures results in clinically and statistically significant improvement of soft tissue conditions of the defect, and 2) treatment outcome was significantly better following SCTG compared to GTR in terms of recession depth reduction, root coverage and keratinized tissue increase. This study was partly supported by W.L. Gore Associates Inc. and MURST Grant #96/60/06/01