Management of gingival recession by the use of an acellular dermal graft material: a 12-case series.

Background: Different soft tissue defects can be treated by a variety of surgical procedures. Most of these techniques require the palatal area as a donor site. Recently, an acellular dermal graft has become available that can substitute for palatal donor tissue.

Methods: This study describes the surgical technique for gingival augmentation and root coverage and the results of 12 clinical cases. A comparison between the three most popular mucogingival procedures for root coverage is also presented.

Results: The results of the 12 patients and the 26 denuded surfaces have shown that we can obtain a mean root coverage of 74% with the acellular dermal graft. Thirteen out of the 26 denuded surfaces had complete root coverage. The average increase in keratinized tissue was 1.19 mm. It seems that the long-term results of the cases are stable.

Conclusion: The proposed technique of root coverage with an acellular dermal graft can be a good alternative to soft tissue grafts for root coverage, and it should be part of our periodontal plastic surgery armamentarium.