A novel, fully digital approach to quantifying volume gain after soft tissue graft surgery. A pilot study

Abstract

Objective: Measuring soft tissue thickness after mucogingival surgery has traditionally been performed by means of a calibrated transgingival probe. The main aim of this study was to apply a non-invasive technique based on digital images formatted as Standard Tessellation Language (STL) files to quantify soft tissue volume after connective tissue grafting. Clinical Innovation Report: Ten patients who presented Cairo Class I gingival recession were selected for connective tissue grafting using the tunnel technique. In all patients, the initial position of the gingiva and quantity of keratinized tissue were recorded, and gingival recession was scanned with an intra-oral scanner. Six months after surgery, the same intra-oral parameters were recorded and compared with the initial registers using digital volumetric analysis software. Results: Complete root coverage was obtained in most patients (90%), mean coverage being of 2.70 mm with a mean increase in volume of 115.49 mm3 in the treated areas. No pattern was identified that indicated a statistically significant relation between gingival recession and coverage volume in mm3. Conclusions: Digital processing of pre- and post-treatment images makes it possible to measure the volume of tissue gained after tissue graft surgery simply and non-invasively. The technique is an objective and reproducible method for measuring soft tissue thickness.