Gingival recession in orthodontic patients 10 to 15 years posttreatment: A retrospective cohort study.

Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2018 May;153(5):645-655. doi:

10.1016/j.ajodo.2017.08.020.

Gebistorf M(1), Mijuskovic M(1), Pandis N(2), Fudalej PS(3), Katsaros C(1).

Author information:

(1)Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, School of Dental

Medicine/Medical Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

(2)Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, School of Dental

Medicine/Medical Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; private

practice, Corfu, Greece.

(3)Department of Orthodontics, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic;

Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, School of Dental

Medicine/Medical Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Electronic

address: Piotr.Fudalej@zmk.unibe.ch.

INTRODUCTION: The aims of this study were to retrospectively investigate the

long-term development of gingival recession in a cohort of orthodontic patients

and to compare the prevalence of gingival recession in orthodontically treated

patients 10 to 15 years posttreatment to that of untreated subjects with

malocclusion.

METHODS: The sample included 88 patients with mean ages of 12.1 years (SD,

2.4 years) at pretreatment, 15.1 years (SD, 2.4 years) at posttreatment, and

27.9 years (SD, 2.5 years) 10 to 15 years posttreatment. The control group

comprised 102 untreated patients seeking orthodontic treatment with a mean age

of 28.7 years (SD, 3.1 years). Gingival recession was evaluated on study models.

RESULTS: The prevalence of both labial/buccal and lingual/palatal gingival

recession increased during orthodontic treatment with further increases during

the long-term posttreatment period; 98.9% of the orthodontically treated

participants had at least 1 labial/buccal recession, and 85.2% of the patients

had at least 1 lingual/palatal recession 10 to 15 years posttreatment. In

addition, the proportion of patients with multiple labial/buccal or

lingual/palatal recession sites increased considerably in the same time period.

The prevalences of labial/buccal gingival recession were similar in the

orthodontically treated patients 10 to 15 years posttreatment and the untreated

controls. Study group patients with a crossbite before treatment showed 2.73

more recessions (95% CI, 0.28-5.17; P = 0.029) than did those without a

transverse discrepancy. Untreated subjects with crowding greater than 3 mm per

arch had 3.29 more recessions (95% CI, 0.73-5.68; P = 0.012) to 4.92 more

recession sites (95% CI, 1.70-8.15; P = 0.003) than did those with mild or no

crowding.

CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitations of this study, it seems that, in regard to

the prevalence of gingival recession, orthodontically treated patients are not

compromised in the long term compared with those with malocclusion that was

untreated for many years.

Copyright © 2018 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Elsevier

Inc. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ajodo.2017.08.020

PMID: 29706212 [Indexed for MEDLINE]