A promising periodontal procedure for the treatment of adjacent gingival recession defects.

Various clinical reports on the reconstruction of gingival recession defects have been published in the past decade. Several techniques have been used to achieve root coverage, including creation of free gingival grafts, laterally positioned flaps or semilunar coronally positioned flaps, as well as guided tissue regeneration and connective tissue grafting. This article focuses on the importance of connective tissue grafting, combined with a recent approach known as the tunnel procedure, in managing gingival recession defects with a single operation. This procedure originated in 1985 with an envelope design and a subepithelial connective tissue graft for single gingival recession defects and is used today for coverage of multiple adjacent gingival recession defects. Histological evaluation of such connective tissue grafts demonstrates periodontal regeneration in human subjects. Clinical trials have yielded good results, including early tissue healing because of increased blood supply, good esthetic results, excellent patient cooperation and avoidance of secondary periodontal plastic surgery. These benefits underline the appropriateness of this technique, which improves the success rate of connective tissue grafting and increases the amount of root coverage.