CLINICAL-EVALUATION OF TETRACYCLINE HCL CONDITIONING IN THE TREATMENTOF GINGIVAL RECESSIONS - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY

THIRTY CLASS I AND CLASS II recessions in 30 patients were treated wit h a modified subepithelial connective tissue graft procedure. Fifteen recessions in the test group received a tetracycline hydrochloride (50 mg/ml) root treatment for 5 minutes (TTC-HCl group); the remaining 15 recessions composed the control group and received a citric acid root treatment for 3 minutes (CA group). Clinical assessments were taken a t baseline and at 6 months. The differences between treatments were no t statistically significant. In the central area of the recession, the mean percentage of root coverage was 81.7% corresponding to a mean pe rcentage of 79.3% and 84.0% for the TTC-HCl and the CA group, respecti vely. In the test group, 6 of the 15 recessions exhibited complete roo t coverage; the gingival augmentation was 57.8%. In the control group, 8 of the 15 recessions exhibited complete root coverage; the gingival augmentation was 43.6%. The mean surface area of root exposure was re duced from 11.53 mm(2) and 13.30 mm(2) to 0.34 mm(2) and 0.29 mm(2) fo r the TTC-HCl group and the CA group, respectively. This reduction cor responds to a mean percentage of 97.4% root coverage for both groups. Within the limits of this study, the results indicate that tetracyclin e hydrochloride and citric acid root conditioning have comparable clin ical effects in root coverage surgical therapy. The data also suggest that the measurement of the surface area of the recession is a more ac curate criterion in the evaluation of the mean percentage of root cove rage than a single central vertical linear measurement.