Root coverage with connective tissue grafts: An evaluation of short- and long-term results

Background: Subepithelial connective tissue grafts have been shown to be effective in obtaining root coverage. However, little is known about the long-term results. The goal of this study was to evaluate and compare the short-term (13.0 weeks) and long-term (27.5 months) root coverage results obtained with subepithelial connective tissue grafts. Methods: One-hundred patients with 146 Miller Class I or Class II recession defects were treated with subepithelial connective tissue grafts to obtain root coverage. The changes in the clinical measurements were compared between the preoperative and short-term results, between preoperative and long-term results, and between short-term and long-term results. Results: The mean root coverage at 13.0 weeks was 97.1% and 98.4% at 27.5 months. This difference was statistically significant. There was a statistically significant decrease in recession and probing depth, reduction in attachment loss, and increase in quantity of keratinized tissue between the preoperative and short-term results and between the preoperative and long-term results. There was a statistically significant decrease in recession, increase in the quantity of keratinized tissue, increase in probing depth, and increase in attachment loss between short-term and long-term results. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that the subepithelial connective tissue graft is an effective method to cover exposed roots. The mean root coverage tended to improve with time.