Clinical Considerations on the Root Coverage of Gingival Recessions in Thin or Thick Biotype

Gingival biotype is a clinical term used to describe the thickness of the gingiva. It has been classified as being thick or thin and may be related to the clinical outcome of root coverage procedures. This study evaluated the impact of gingival biotype on the clinical outcome of root coverage procedures following subepithelial connective tissue graft plus coronally positioned lap. A total of 19 patients, 10 with thin and 9 with thick gingival biotype, were treated for localized Miller Class I or II gingival recessions. After 6 months, 14 patients achieved complete root coverage, 7 from each group. The overall mean pooled root coverage rate was 90.93%. The thin biotype cases yielded a reduced mean root coverage of 88.51% compared with 93.63% for patients who had the thick biotype classification. Although the thin gingival biotype may impair the clinical outcome of root coverage procedures, this limitation does not appear to have a strong influence on the success of the root coverage therapy when subepithelial connective tissue graft was associated with the coronal positioning of the lap.