Treatment of gingival recession

Background. Gingival recession is an intriguing and complex phenomenon. Patients frequently are disturbed by recession owing to sensitivity and esthetics. Many techniques have been introduced to treat gingival recession, including connective tissue grafting, or CTG; various flap designs; orthodontics; and guided tissue regeneration, or GTR. The authors reviewed human clinical studies to assess which techniques provided optimal results. Types off Studies Reviewed. The authors reviewed controlled clinical trials to assess the outcome of gingival grafting. They also included histological studies in this article to elucidate the type of healing after those procedures were performed. Results. The studies showed that the combination of CTG and coronally positioned flaps yielded a higher percentage of root coverage compared with other techniques. When GTR using bioabsorbable or nonbioabsorbable membranes was compared with CTG, the studies were inconclusive. Some studies found that GTR was as effective as CTG, while the others found that CTG was superior. Clinical Implications. Gingival grafting to treat recession is a predictable and reliable periodontal procedure.