Effectiveness of surgical root coverage on dentin hypersensitivity: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Aim: To assess the effect of surgical root coverage (RC) on dentin hypersensitivity (DH) associated with gingival recession.

Materials and methods: Two independent reviewers conducted electronic literature searches in MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web Of Science, Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source, ScienceDirect, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases as well as a manual search to identify eligible clinical studies from January 2000 to March 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing two surgical RC techniques or a surgical RC technique with or without adjuvant were included. Meta-analyses were performed on data provided by RCTs.

Results: Thirteen RCTs with a total of 701 patients (1086 recessions) were included. The percentage of DH suppression was 70.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] [64.4-76.6]; I² = 39.2% [3.5-61.8], Q-test = 0.02) after surgical RC. Recession reduction and percentage of RC were both statistically significantly associated with DH suppression (estimate = 0.66 [0.10-1.23], p = .022, R² = 14.45% and estimate = 0.04 [0.01-0.08], p = .012, R² = 29.54%, respectively). Coronally advanced flap (CAF) + connective tissue graft showed results statistically more effective than CAF + xenogeneic collagen matrix in DH suppression (73.3% [65.6-79.8] and 61.4% [51.7-70.3], respectively; p = .048).

Conclusions: Success of surgical RC is associated with DH suppression.

Keywords: dentin sensitivity; gingival recession; meta-analysis; systematic review; tooth root.