Root Isolation for New Attachment Procedures

A surgical and suturing method is described for the subgingival placement of Gore-tex periodontal material during new attachment procedures. The periodontal material isolates the root surface from epithelium and gingival connective tissue. Three cases were treated. Clinical new attachment was evident from clinical probings and reentry. The term "open probing new attachment" describes the type of tissue that was evident at reentry after treatment of a Class III furcation. A combination of new bone and "open probing new attachment" was evident after one-wall defects were treated adjacent to a mandibular cuspid. A two-wall defect was treated and biopsied three months later. A reference notch was placed 1 mm coronal to the apical aspect of the defect. Histologic examination of the biopsy showed new bone, cementum and periodontal fibers coronal to the notch. Clinical and histologic new attachment was achieved using the technique for root isolation. The long-term predictability and stability of this type of new attachment is not known at this time.