What if gum graft doesn work

The same things that cause gum recession can cause post-grafting recession, or graft failure. Here are some common causes of gum recession:. Your Kitchener Dentist or Periodontist Gum Specialist will tell you that they can't guarantee long-lasting root coverage with grafting. Often times you get great results and long lasting root coverage, but not always. What is more predictable is a long-lasting thickening of the gum tissue that stops recession in its tracks.

Yes, gum grafts fail sometimes. Understanding what causes failure is critical to understanding how to achieve success. Many of the factors that lead to failure are the same things that lead to gum recession in the first place.

If a heavy-handed toothbrushing technique lead to your gum recession, then transitioning to a more gentle technique will help to ensure graft success and new attachment. If your initial gum recession was triggered by heavy lateral forces from grinding your teeth, wearing a protective night guard post-grafting will help to protect your investment and improve treatment outcomes.

Smoking is probably the most harmful habit with respect to long-term success of gum grafts. Smoking damages blood supply to the gums and the blood supply carries nutrition to help grafts heal. Without that nutrition, gum grafts fail. Now, we discussed recession due to tooth position above. You haven't changed the conditions that led to recession in the first place. So, in these cases, your Dentist should first improve tooth position with conventional braces or Invisalign.

Once ideal tooth position is achieved, a gum graft will be much more likely to succeed. It is difficult to determine the rate at which gum grafts fail. Generally, the success of a grafting procedure depends on the type of recession being treated and the condition of surrounding gum tissue. Generally, if the recession is minimal mm , and there is no loss or recession of the gum tissue that extends in between teeth then you are likely to have a very high success rate. In other instances, the recession may be moderate to severe i.

When recession occurs and gum tissue is lost from in between teeth, it is usually and indication that underlying bone has been lost too. In these instances, long-lasting root coverage with grafting is very unlikely.

Under these conditions, gum grafts fail more often. After a gum graft, your Periodontist Gum Specialist will typically cover the treatment site with a surgical dressing or covering. This is solely for protection during healing. Success in grafting depends on gum tissue already at the graft site connecting with grafted tissue and supplying it with blood and nutrition.

Gums that have receded severely may cause bone to deteriorate underneath. Regeneration corrects this issue by peeling gum tissue back in order to place a bone graft. This procedure is not typically performed unless patients have severe periodontal disease. Gum contouring is another option that may be done instead of or in addition to gum grafting. Patients are typically given anesthesia prior to performing this procedure. Once the procedure is complete, the patient can enjoy a bright, new, aesthetically improved smile.

This procedure also decreases the depths of the pockets, which make them easier to clean, thereby decreasing your risk of developing periodontal disease. This procedure is commonly performed in conjunction with a gum graft.

Every patient has unique dental needs, so the best way you can decide which treatment options is right for you, beyond studying the pros and cons of each option, is to schedule an appointment with your periodontist to see which approach they believe will provide you with optimal results. Peter Halford. Figure 2 : Normal postoperative healing of a free gingival graft at 7 days. Whitish areas are sloughing epithelium. Photo courtesy of Dr. Figure 3 : Normal postoperative healing of a free gingival graft at 7 days.

The whitish tissue is normal healing and is related to epithelial sloughing. There is remaining exposed root surface as the goal of the free gingival graft is to augment the keratinized gingiva. Figure 4 : Healed free gingival graft 6 weeks postoperation. Healing is successful, but there is still root exposure. Figure 5 : At 3 months postoperation, there is still exposed root but marked evidence of keratinized tissue. This indicates a successful free gingival graft.

Figure 6: Gingival recession, before connective tissue graft. Due to class 3 Miller recession where interproximal tissue height is decreased it would not be possible to regain full root coverage of the teeth.

However we may be able to improve the thickness of these tissues to make them more resilient. Outcomes agreed with the patient:. The patient understood that by increasing the thickness of ginigval tissues it will make them more resilient.

This means that the likelihood of inflammation and further recession will be decreased. It will also mean that she will be able to maintain the area better. The gold standard in gingival augmentation is regarded as connective tissue grafting. The benefit of this technique is that it is less destructive to the palatal donor site and tends to have higher success rates. The higher success rates are due to the fact that connective tissue grafts are provided with a dual blood supply one from the underlying periosteum, and one from the overlying flap at the recipient site due to the use of a bilaminar technique.

Unfortunately in this case the biotype was so thin that a spit thickness flap to allow placement of a connective tissue graft would not have been possible. As a result it was chosen to undertake a Free Gingival Graft to augment the area. The first step in augmentation involves preparing the recipient bed. This in effect is a de-epithelialisation of the gingival tissues at the desired site.