clinical and biometric evaluation of collagen membrane application for covering exposed root surfaces

this study is aimed to evaluate the effect of covering exposed root surface by collagen membrane and to compare this method with coronoally advanced flap covering. 26 teeth in 20 patients (12m/8f) with miller1 gingival recession were selected. 14 teeth were allocated into test group and 12 teeth in control group. following first phase of treatment, clinical parameters including the height and width of gingival recession, attachment height, gingival crevice depth and keratinized tissue width were measured. in test group, coronally advanced flap was prepared and gingistat (as space maintainer) and collagen membrane was applied. for control group, coronally advanced flap method was applied without any further action. the measurements were done in 1,2 and 3 months post surgery. in test group, the reported root coverage was 71% while in control group was 57% which represents statistically significant difference. from first to third month post surgically, the average gingival recession in test group was 0.21 mm which was considered as creeping attachment phenomenon while in control group gingival height was increased 0.14 mm. the average width of recession and crevice depth decrease was not significantly different between the groups. on the other hand, the average attachment gain and keratinized tissue increase was significantly varied among the groups. in general, it can be concluded that application of collagen membrane as well as gingastat space maintainer can bring about satisfactory results in covering exposed root surfaces.