Background: The aim of this retrospective long-term split-mouth study was to compare the periodontal conditions of sites treated with gingival-augmentation procedures to untreated homologous contralateral sites over a long period of time (10 to 27 years).
Methods: Fifty-five subjects with 73 sites (test group) lacking attached gingiva associated with recessions were treated by means of submarginal free gingival grafts (SMFGGs) and marginal free gingival grafts (MFGGs). The 73 contralateral homologous sites (control group), with or without recession and with or without attached gingiva, were not treated. Patients were recalled every 4 months during the follow-up period (10 to 27 years). Clinical variables, including recession depth, amount of keratinized tissue (KT), and probing depth (PD), were measured in treated and untreated sites at baseline, at 1 year, and at the end of the follow-up period.
Results: At the end of the follow-up period, recession was reduced in all treated sites (1.5 +/- 1.0 mm for SMFGG and 1.3 +/- 0.9 mm for MFGG), whereas it was increased in the untreated sites (-0.7 +/- 0.7 mm for SMFGG and -1.0 +/- 0.5 mm for MFGG). In the treated sites, the increased KT remained quite stable during the follow-up period. PD remained stable (1 mm) in the treated and untreated sites.
Conclusions: The sites treated with gingival-augmentation surgery showed a tendency for coronal displacement of the gingival margin with a reduction in recession. The contralateral untreated sites showed a tendency for apical displacement of the gingival margin with an increase in the existing recessions.