Clinical evaluation of the effect of platelet rich plasma on the coronally advanced flap root coverage procedure

Coronally advanced flap (CAF) has been shown to effectively treat gingival recession. Platelet rich plasma (PRP), containing autologous growth factors, has been shown to promote soft tissue healing. The aim of this clinical study was to determine whether the addition of an autologous PRP to a CAF when compared to a CAF alone would improve the clinical outcome for treatment of multiple gingival recessions.

Thirty patients with Miller's class I and class II buccal recession defect were randomly assigned to control (CAF alone) or test (CAF with PRP) groups. Recession depth (RD), recession width (RW), probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), width of keratinized tissue, wound healing index, percentage of root coverage was assessed. Patients were followed at 2, 4, 12 and 16 weeks post-surgery. Statistical analysis for intra and inter group comparisons was done using Wilcoxon sign rank and Wilcoxon rank sum tests respectively. P < 0.05 denoted statistical significance.

The differences between the test and control groups were not significant with respect to all the clinical variables. The RD at 16 weeks was significantly reduced from 2.88 ± 0.69 to 0.76 ± 0.24 mm in control group (P < 0.05) and from 2.95 ± 0.43 to 0.76 ± 0.35 mm in the test group (P < 0.05). The mean percentage of root coverage was 73.1 ± 7.3 in the control group and 75.0 ± 8.3 in test group (P < 0.05). The CAL gain was 3.17 ± 0.84 mm within the control group and 3.17 ± 0.79 mm within test group.

Within the limitations of this study, PRP with CAF can provide an early healing of soft tissues, but does not provide clinically measurable improvement in the final therapeutics outcome in CAF.