Lawrence M. Spindel, DDS Connective Tissue Grafting
Connective Tissue Grafting by Lawrence M. Spindel DDS, Saturday, February 24, 2007, 3:51 PM
Often patients ask is there anyway you can grow back gum tissue that I am missing? The answer is often yes, if we use a procedure called connective tissue grafting. If you are a patient with receding gums and you have sufficient bone levels between your teeth you may be a candidate for a cosmetic procedure named connective tissue grafting. I have found this to be a good option when dealing with patients with gingival recession not primarily due to periodontal disease. Often dentist’s refer to this as gingival recession due to tooth brush abrasion, but it’s causes are usually multifactorial and not due to tooth brushing alone. Connective tissue grafting is a surgical procedure, (usually done by a periodontist) in which connective tissue is harvested from your palate and inserted surgically in the gingival area that needs to be regrown. The gingiva around the defect is slid toward your tooth and the connective tissue is inserted in between a gingival flap that has been created and the exposed part of the root that had been missing gum coverage. There also is a variation which doesn’t harvest tissue from the palate, but instead uses a commercially prepared membrane. In general connective tissue grafting is not good for replacing gum missing in between teeth , but is only used to cover exposed cervical (at the neck of the tooth) root surface. Once a good result has been achieved by the Periodontist the result can last indefinitely. This can allow a smile to be made to appear younger and more cosmetic.
