Comparative study of coronally advanced flap technique with and without use of EDTA gel in the treatment of gingival recession

Dr. R. Shariatmadar Ahmadi * - Dr. Z. Ghasemi ** - Dr. KH. Mani Kashani*** - Dr. R. Gheyratian****

*- Assistant Professor of Periodontics Dept. - Faculty of Dentistry – Hamedan University of Medical Sciences.

**- Pharmacologist and Supervisor of semi-solid liquids production of Hakim pharmaceutical factory.

***- Assistant Professor of MSPH and statistics consultant.

****- Dentist.

Background and Aim: Various surgical techniques have been already proposed for the coverage of denuded root surfaces. The aim of this study was to compare coronally repositioned flap procedure with and without the use of EDTA gel in the treatment of recession defects.

Materials and Methods: This study was a clinical test of 3 months duration conducted as a split-mouth and randomized design. Twenty-five patients, aged 17-60 years, with one paired buccal recession defects of at least 2mm depth participated. Surgical recession coverage was performed as coronally - advanced flap technique at both sites in the same session. One site was additionally treated with EDTA gel (24%, PH=7) (test group n=25). Clinical measurements including assessments of oral hygiene, recession depth (RD), recession width (RW), height of keratinized tissue (HKT), probing depth (PD), probing attachment level (PAL) and photographs were taken before and 1, 2 and 3 months after surgical treatment. Data were analyzed using t-student test, paired t-test and ANOVA.

Results: Three months after therapy, both treatment modalities showed significant root coverage and probing attachment gain. Gingival recession decreased from 2.73mm to 0.53mm for the EDTA treated sites and from 2.39mm to 0.79mm for the control sites, corresponding to mean root coverages of 79% and 68%, respectively. This difference was not statistically significant (P=0.13) with the exception of probing attachment level which was significantly higher (P=0.004) in the EDTA group, all other clinical variables were not different between compared groups.

Conclusion: It is suggested that the additional use of EDTA combined with coronally advanced flap technique for recession coverage results in no difference in the overall clinical outcome.

Key words: Gingival recession - Root coverage - Coronally advanced flap - Surgical treatment - Ethylen ediamino tetraacetic acid.