efficacy of human umbilical stem cells cultured on polylactic/ polyglycolic acid membrane in the treatment of multiple gingival recession defects: a randomized controlled clinical study

statement of the problem: recently allogenic mesenchymal stem cells are proposed to have multipotential progenitor cell capabilities to differentiate into cementoblasts, osteoblasts, and periodontal ligament fibroblasts. purpose: the aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of human umbilical stem cells cultured on polylactic acid (pla), polyglycolic acid (pga) membrane with pla/pga membrane alone in the treatment of multiple gingival recession defects. materials and method: a total number of 14 cases of multiple gingival recession (miller’s class i or ii) located in the anterior region were randomly selected and divided into test (stem cells in combination with pla/pga membrane) and control group (pla/pga membrane alone). clinical parameters including gingival recession, probing pocket depth, clinical attachment level, and width of keratinized gingiva were recorded at baseline, and at 6 months postoperative. results: at baseline, there was 2.28 mm and 2.14mm mean gingival recession at 16 sites and 14 sites in test and control groups respectively. at 6 months post-surgery, test group showed 1.57 mm mean reduction of gingival recession indicating 66% root coverage, while the control group showed 1.24mm mean reduction of gingival recession indicating 57% root coverage. conclusion: in the present study, the stem cell with pla/pga membrane showed significantly higher mean root coverage compared to only pla/pga membrane group.   keywords  ● pla/pga membrane  ● stem cells  ● gingival recession