Fourteen-year outcomes of coronally advanced flap for root coverage: follow-up from a randomized trial

Trial Design: This long-term 14-year-randomized split-mouth study aimed at evaluating (1) the outcomes of two different methods of root surface modifications (root surface polishing versus root planing) used in combination with a coronally advanced flap (CAF) and (2) the long-term results of CAF performed for the treatment of single gingival recessions. Methods: Ten patients with similar bilateral recessions >= 2 mm were selected for a split-mouth randomized design study. Exposed root surfaces were assigned to receive polishing (test sites) or root planing (control sites). A multilevel model was used to analyse data at 3 months, 1, 5 and 14 years. Results: One patient dropped out after 1 year. At 14 years, recession depth (Rec) was 0.9 (1.2) mm for the test sites and 0.9 (0.9) mm for the control sites. The interaction between treatment and keratinized tissue was significant (p = 0.0035). Rec increased slightly over time (p = 0.0006) in both the groups. Conclusions: This study shows that during a long-term follow-up, gingival recession recurred in 39% of the treated sites following the CAF procedure.