Amniotic membrane - A Novel material for the root coverage: A case series

BACKGROUND: Periodontal plastic surgical procedures aimed at coverage of exposed root surface. Owing to the second surgical donor site and difficulty in procuring a sufficient graft for the treatment of root coverage procedures, various alternative additive membranes have been used. A recent resorbable amniotic membrane, not only maintains the structural and anatomical configuration of regenerated tissues, but also enhances gingival wound healing, provides a rich source of stem cells. Therefore, amniotic membrane is choice of material these days in augmenting the better results in various periodontal procedures. AIM: The aim of this observational case series was to evaluate the effectiveness, predictability and the use of a novel material, amniotic membrane in the treatment of shallow-to-moderate isolated recession defects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of three cases, showing Miller's Class I or Class II gingival recession, participated in this study. Recession depth, recession width, keratinized gingiva (KG) tissue width, clinical attachment level (CAL) were recorded at baseline, 3 and 6 months postoperatively. RESULTS: Six months following root coverage procedures, the mean root coverage was found to be 70.2 ± 6.8%. CAL significantly decreased from 6.4 ± 0.54 mm preoperatively to 3.5 ± 0.9 mm postoperatively at 6 months while KG showed significant improvement from 3.2 ± 0.28 mm preoperatively to 5.9 ± 0.74 mm postoperatively at 6 months. CONCLUSION: Autogenous graft tissue procurement significantly increases patient morbidity while also lengthening the duration of surgery in placing the graft, while self-adherent nature of amniotic membrane significantly reduces surgical time and made the procedure easier to perform, making it membrane of choice.