Treatment of gingival recession with collagen membrane and DFDBA: a histometric study in dogs

ABSTRACT

In a previous study, we evaluated the findings related to the use of resorbable collagen membranes in humans along with DFDBA (demineralized freeze-dried bone allograft). The aim of this subsequent study was to histometrically evaluate in dogs, the healing response of gingival recessions treated with collagen membrane + DFDBA (Guided Tissue Regeneration, GTR) compared to a coronally positioned flap (CPF). Two types of treatment were randomly carried out in a split-mouth study. Group 1 was considered as test (GTR: collagen membrane + DFDBA), whereas Group 2 stood for the control (only CPF). The dogs were given chemical bacterial plaque control with 0.2 percent chlorhexidine digluconate during a 90-day repair period. Afterwards, the animals were killed to obtain biopsies and histometric evaluation of the process of cementum and bone formation, epithelial migration and gingival level. A statistically significant difference was found between groups with a larger extension of neoformed cementum (GTR = 32.72 percent; CPF = 18.82 percent; p = 0.0004), new bone (GTR = 23.20 percent; CPF = 09.90 percent; p = 0.0401) and with a smaller area of residual gingival recession in the test group (GTR = 50.69 percent; CPF = 59.73 percent; p = 0.0055) compared to the control group. The only item assessed that showed no statistical difference was epithelial proliferation on the root surface, with means of 15.14 percent for the GTR group and 20.34 percent for the CPF group (p = 0.0890). Within the limits of this study we concluded that the treatment of gingival recession defects with GTR, associating collagen membrane with DFDBA, showed better outcomes in terms of a larger extension of neoformed cementum and bone, as well as in terms of a smaller proportion of residual recessions.