A two-year prospective study of coronally positioned flap with or without acellular dermal matrix graft

AIM: Evaluation of the treatment of gingival recessions with coronally positioned flap with or without acellular dermal matrix allograft (ADM) after a period of 24 months. METHODS: Thirteen patients with bilateral gingival recessions were included. The defects were randomly assigned to one of the treatments: coronally positioned flap plus ADM or coronally positioned flap alone. The clinical measurements were taken before the surgeries and after 6, 12 and 24 months. RESULTS: At baseline, the mean values for recession height were 3.46 and 3.58 mm for the defects treated with and without the graft, respectively (p>0.05). No significant differences between the groups were observed after 6 and 12 months in this parameter. However, after 24 months, the group treated with coronally positioned flap alone showed a greater recession height when compared with the group treated with ADM (1.62 and 1.15 mm, respectively--p<0.05). A significant increase in the thickness of keratinized tissue was observed in the group treated with ADM as compared with coronally positioned flap alone (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: ADM may reduce the residual gingival recession observed after 24 months in defects treated with coronally positioned flap. In addition, a greater gingival thickness may be achieved when the graft is used.