When Gingival Recession Is Rescued By Periodontal Plastic Surgery: A Clinical Case Report

Gingival recession is the most common mucogingival defect. It is characterized by the exposure of the tooth root surface resulting from displacement of the gingival margin below the cementoenamel junction. The denuded root surfaces compromise dental and gingival aesthetics with dentine hypersensitivity, caries proclivity, cervical abrasion and oral hygiene disability. When deciding root coverage, settled surgical techniques have been proposed and each procedure challenges to expand on limitations of the others. The purpose of this case report is to assess the esthetic correction of localized gingival recession using combined coronally positioned flap with connective tissue graft techniques. Long term evaluation, extended to two years after surgical treatment, is performed. The part of the prophylactic management to prevent potential future recessions is also enhanced. Significant increasing in keratinized and attached gingival tissues and reduction of height and width of recession were obtained. Gain of root coverage was 100% with great improvement in attachment level. Prevention of recession was accomplished and the results were stable after two years follow up. Patient-reported outcomes were satisfaction and esthetic appearance.