A systematic review and meta-analysis, summarised as JCP Digest 104, considers the effectiveness of surgical root coverage on dentin hypersensitivity associated with gingival recession.
Dentin hypersensitivity affects around 12 percent of patients. As well as the use of desensitising agents and laser therapy, surgical root-coverage techniques have been proposed as a way to reduce dentin hypersensitivity.
Researchers at Aix-Marseille University in France reviewed thirteen clinical trials and found that 70 percent of patients with dentin hypersensitivity were free from it after root-coverage surgery.
Their analysis also considered the effectiveness of different forms of root-coverage surgery, including the coronally advanced flap and tunnel techniques, and the adjunctive use of connective tissue grafts, xenogeneic collagen matrix, and acellular dermal matrix.
The research was summarised for JCP Digest by postgraduate students at the EFP-accredited programme in periodontology at the University of Strasbourg in France.
