Treatment of class III multiple gingival recessions: Prognostic factors for achieving a complete root coverage

Background: This report is intended to present a supplemental analysis of data from a prior report (Aroca et al.,) to investigate factors associated with a complete root coverage at 1 year. The purpose of the prior report was to investigate at 1 year the adjunction effect of EMD for the treatment of Miller’s class III recession defects using a coronally advanced modified tunnel/CTG technique with (test group) or without (control group). The purpose of this report was to investigate additional factors associated with root coverage in the same data set. Materials and methods: On the 138 observations collected from 20 patients, a regression model was used to highlight the relationship between the percentages of root coverage (RC) and three following covariates: the distance from the tip of the papilla and the contact point (DCP) at baseline, the group membership (control vs. test) and tooth position in the mouth (maxillary vs. mandibular). Results: The statistical analysis showed that there was a significant effect of the DCP at baseline (p = 0.01) and of the tooth type (p <.001) on the percentage of RC at 1 year, whereas no significant difference between the two techniques (group membership effect) was shown (p = 0.69). Conclusion: The probability to obtain a complete root coverage decreases when the DCP at baseline increases. Moreover, maxillary teeth are more likely to give better RC than mandibular teeth. However, in this analysis similar to the last, there was no group effect.