This single-center, split-mouth, single-blind pilot randomized trial compared patient morbidity, healing and root coverage between the subepithelial connective tissue graft (SCTG) and the de-epithelialized free gingival graft (D-FGG) when combined with the modified coronally advanced tunnel (MCAT) technique in multiple adjacent gingival recessions. Sixteen systemically healthy patients with bilateral Miller Class I/II (Cairo RT1) recessions were enrolled, and contralateral sides were randomly allocated to MCAT + SCTG (control) or MCAT + D-FGG (test) by means of sequentially numbered, opaque, sealed envelopes (SNOSE). Patient-reported outcomes (pain, chewing discomfort, bleeding) and the Landry Healing Index were assessed at 1 and 2 weeks; recession depth, mean root coverage (mRC) and Root Coverage Esthetic Score (RES) were evaluated at 6 months. Both techniques achieved high mRC (test: 94.22% ± 10.28%; control: 94.60% ± 9.99%) and RES (test: 8.02 ± 0.63; control: 8.14 ± 0.77), with no statistically significant intergroup differences. Donor-site pain was significantly lower in the D-FGG group, whereas early chewing discomfort and bleeding were higher. Because the trial was not powered for equivalence or non-inferiority, these preliminary findings are hypothesis-generating and require confirmation in adequately powered trials.
Jaisinghani et al. (Sat,) studied this question.