Mucogingival interceptive surgery of buccally-erupted premolars in patients scheduled for orthodontic treatment. II. Surgically treated versus nonsurgically treated cases

Background: The aim of this 2-year longitudinal study was to compare the wi dth of keratinized gingiva after orthodontic therapy for buccally erupting premolars that had been pretreated by extraction of deciduous teeth alone v ersus interceptive mucogingival surgery. Methods: In 8 patients (aged 9 to 12 years) who presented with bilateral bu ccal eruption of homologous teeth (premolars), one side was randomly treate d with extraction of the deciduous molar and mucogingival surgery (test sit e), while the other side was treated only by extraction of the deciduous mo lar (control site). All of the subjects underwent orthodontic treatment wit h fixed appliances. Results: At the baseline visit prior to any treatment, there was no signifi cant difference between the mean amount of keratinized gingiva at test site s (3.06 mm) and control sites (2.93 mm). Two years later, upon completion o f orthodontic treatment, there was a significant difference between test (2 .93 mm) and control (1.37 mm) sites in the mean width of keratinized tissue . In the control (untreated) group, 2 sites exhibited 1 mm of gingival rece ssion after orthodontic treatment. Conclusions: Mucogingival interceptive surgery is an effective technique to maintain keratinized tissue in correspondence with buccally-erupted teeth.