Subpedicle acellular dermal matrix graft and autogenous connective tissue graft in the treatment of gingival recessions: a comparative 1-year clinical study.

Background: Many surgical techniques have been proposed for the correction of dental root exposition. Among these, bilaminar techniques (BTs) have been reported as offering the best results in terms of root coverage (RC). However, BTs require a second surgical site to harvest the graft, with discomfort for the patient. The use of an acellular dermal matrix (ADM) avoids the need for a donor site. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical results of 2 BTs by autogenous connective tissue (CT) or ADM.
Methods: In 30 systemically healthy, non-smoking patients aged 34.5 +/- 5.2 years, who showed no periodontal pockets >4 mm after a hygienic phase, a Miller's class I or II gingival recession was treated for root coverage. All patients underwent a BT: in 15 patients, an autogenous connective tissue graft was employed (CT group); in the other 15 subjects, ADM was used as a subepithelial graft (ADM group). Prior to and 1 year after surgical treatment, the following clinical parameters were recorded: gingival recession (GR), probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), width of keratinized tissue (KT), and gingival thickness (GT); the percentage of RC (%RC) was also calculated, and the data were statistically analyzed. The number of weeks needed to obtain complete healing with mature tissue appearance was also recorded.
Results: Both groups yielded significant improvements in terms of GR decrease, CAL and KT gain, and GT increase as compared to baseline values. The mean %RCs were 88.80 +/- 11.65% and 83.33 +/- 11.40% in the CT and ADM groups, respectively. Complete RC was observed in 46.6% of patients from the CT group, and 26.6% of the ADM group patients. No significant differences were observed between the two techniques for GR, CAL, and GT improvements; however, the CT group produced a significantly (P <0.01) greater increase in KT as compared to the ADM group. Complete healing of the surgical procedure was observed 6.20 +/- 1.01 and 8.93 +/- 1.33 weeks after suture removal in the CT and ADM groups, respectively (P <0.001).
Conclusions: The CT and ADM subepithelial grafts were similarly able to successfully treat gingival recession defects; however, the CT group obtained a significantly greater increase in KT, and showed a quicker complete healing.