Subperiosteal and intraosseous connective tissue grafts for pocket reduction: a 9- to 13-year retrospective case series report.

BACKGROUND: Recent histological evidence has documented that grafted palatal connective tissue is capable of forming a new attachment to previously exposed roots in the treatment of gingival recession. No clinical studies have tested the ability of connective tissue that has been implanted beneath the periosteum into periodontal osseous defects to reduce probing depth and increase clinical attachment levels. This study reports the long-term clinical effect of subperiosteal and intraosseous connective tissue grafts on deep periodontal pockets.

METHODS: Connective tissue (CT) grafts were placed in 32 periodontal pockets on 27 patients. Grafts were classified into 3 groups. Type I grafts had 50% or more vascular surface contact and were < or = 2.5 mm thick. Type II grafts had 50% or more contact but were > 2.5 mm thick, and Type III grafts had less than 50% vascular contact regardless of thickness. Twelve of 14 Type I sites, 9 of 15 Type II sites, and 3 of 3 Type III sites were analyzed 9 to 13 years following treatment.

RESULTS: Clinical attachment level change differed significantly between the graft types on survivor teeth (P < 0.05): Type III had 2 mm loss (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.4 to 3.6), while Type II and Type I grafts had a 2.7 mm gain (95% CI: 2.0 to 3.4) and 4.3 mm gain (95% CI: 3.3 to 5.2), respectively. Similar substantial differences were presented for changes in probing depth and recession.

CONCLUSIONS: This long-term (9 to 13 years) retrospective case-series analysis suggests substantial improvements in periodontal clinical measures for Type I CT grafts in deep periodontal pockets. Randomized trials are required to evaluate this promising procedure.