Assessment of gingival translucency at the mandibular incisors with two different probing systems. A cross sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: Increasing evidence indicates that the thickness of periodontal soft tissues plays an important role in various clinical scenarios, thus pointing to the need of further clinical research in this area. Aim of the present study was to assess gingival thickness at the mandibular incisors by translucency judgement with two different probes and to validate if these methods are comparable and applicable as diagnostic tools. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 200 participants were included; gingival tissue thickness was measured by judging probe translucency at both central mandibular incisors, mid-facially on the buccal aspect of each tooth using a standard periodontal probe and a set of color-coded probe, each with a different color at the tip, i.e. Colorvue Biotype Probe (CBP). Frequencies and relative frequencies were calculated for probe visibility. Agreement between the standard periodontal probe and the CBP was evaluated via the kappa statistic. RESULTS: When the periodontal probe was visible, the frequency of CBP being visible was very high. Kappa statistic for the agreement between the standard periodontal probe and the CBP was 0.198 (71.5% agreement; p-value < 0.001) for tooth 41 and 0.311 (74.0% agreement; p-value < 0.001) for tooth 31, indicating a positive association of the two methods. CONCLUSIONS: An agreement that reached 74% was estimated between the standard periodontal probe and the color-coded probe at central mandibular incisors.  CLINICAL RELEVANCE: In the context of the present study, the two methods of evaluating gingival thickness seem to produce comparable measurements with a substantial agreement. However, in the 1/4 of the cases, the visibility of the color-coded probe could not assist in the categorization of the gingival phenotype.

Early and late implant loss in a university-based periodontal setting: A retrospective analysis on 1821 patients and 2639 implants over a period of 18 years.

The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze the implant failure rate, not due to peri-implantitis, in periodontally compromised patients rehabilitated with at least one dental implant placed in a specialist university setting over the last 18 years. Records of patients receiving dental implants at the Department of Periodontology, University of Bern, Switzerland, between 2005 and 2022 were analyzed. Data on 1821 patients with 2639 implants were retrieved. Fifty-nine patients experienced implant loss (rate at patient level: 3.2%) out of which 2.1% were early and 1.1% late implant losses, respectively. The majority of the 59 patients were males (68%) and 27.1% were smokers. Eight mm implants were lost with the highest rate (42.4%) followed by 10 mm implants (31.8%). The rate of lost maxillary implants was more than twice as high compared with that of mandibular implants (69.7 vs. 30.3%). Within the study limitations, the implant failure rate in this cohort of patients enrolled in regular supportive periodontal and peri-implant care, was low.

Tissue Integration and Degradation of a Porous Collagen-Based Scaffold Used for Soft Tissue Augmentation.

Collagen-based scaffolds hold great potential for tissue engineering, since they closely mimic the extracellular matrix. We investigated tissue integration of an engineered porous collagen-elastin scaffold developed for soft tissue augmentation. After implantation in maxillary submucosal pouches in 6 canines, cell invasion (vimentin), extracellular matrix deposition (collagen type I) and scaffold degradation (cathepsin k, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), CD86) were (immuno)-histochemically evaluated. Invasion of vimentin+ cells (scattered and blood vessels) and collagen type I deposition within the pores started at 7 days. At 15 and 30 days, vimentin+ cells were still numerous and collagen type I increasingly filled the pores. Scaffold degradation was characterized by collagen loss mainly occurring around 15 days, a time point when medium-sized multinucleated cells peaked at the scaffold margin with simultaneous labeling for cathepsin k, TRAP, and CD86. Elastin was more resistant to degradation and persisted up to 90 days in form of packages well-integrated in the newly formed soft connective tissue. In conclusion, this collagen-based scaffold maintained long-enough volume stability to allow an influx of blood vessels and vimentin+ fibroblasts producing collagen type I, that filled the scaffold pores before major biomaterial degradation and collapse occurred. Cathepsin k, TRAP and CD86 appear to be involved in scaffold degradation.