Coronally Positioned Flap for Root Coverage: Comparison between Smokers and Nonsmokers.

BACKGROUND Gingival recession is significantly more common among smokers, while cigarette smoking has been shown to negatively influence healing following periodontal therapeutic procedures as compared to non-smokers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of cigarette smoking on the outcome of coronally positioned flap (CPF) in the treatment of Miller Class I gingival recession defects. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ten current smokers (≥10 cigarettes daily for at least 5 years) and 10 non-smokers (never smokers), each with one 3 to 4-mm Miller Class I recession defect in an upper canine or bicuspid, were treated with CPF. At baseline and 6 months, clinical parameters, probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), recession depth (RD), recession width (RW) and apico-coronal width of keratinized tissue (KT) were determined. RESULTS Intra-group analysis showed that CPF was able to reduce RD and improve CAL in both groups (P < 0.001). Intergroup analysis demonstrated that smokers presented greater residual RD at 6 months and lower percentage of root coverage (60.09% versus 76.05%; P < 0.05). No smokers obtained complete root coverage compared to 30% of non-smokers (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Within the limits of present study, it can be concluded that cigarette smoking may present negative impact on root coverage outcome by CPF as compared to non-smokers and therefore represent one more challenge to periodontal plastic therapy. Key words: Gingival recession/therapy; flap; smoking/adverse effects. How to cite this article:Nanavati B, Bhavsar N V, Mali J. Coronally Positioned Flap for Root Coverage: Comparison between Smokers and Nonsmokers. J Int Oral Health 2013; 5(2):21-27.