VISTA technique in combination with chorionic allograft for gingival recession coverage: a case series

The vestibular incision subperiosteal tunnel access (VISTA) technique, a minimally invasive procedure, achieves multitooth recession coverage with only a single access incision. Use of fetal membranes such as the amnion and chorion has become increasingly popular in the field of dentistry due to their lack of immunogenicity and added advantage of growth factors. The present case series aimed to provide information regarding the potential advantage of placing a chorionic membrane in combination with the VISTA technique to achieve recession coverage. Eight healthy adult patients presenting with 24 Miller Class I multitooth gingival recession defects were surgically treated with the VISTA technique and a chorionic membrane. The clinical parameters measured at baseline and 1, 3, and 6 months postoperatively were probing depth, clinical attachment level, width of keratinized gingiva, thickness of attached gingiva, and height of gingival recession. A repeated-measures analysis of variance with a post hoc Bonferroni test was carried out to compare the baseline values with the 1-, 3-, and 6-month postoperative values. The mean (SD) height of gingival recession was significantly reduced from 2.04 (0.67) mm at baseline to 0.71 (0.71) mm at 6 months (P < 0.001). In addition, there were statistically significant gains in the clinical attachment level, width of keratinized gingiva, and thickness of attached gingiva from baseline to 6 months postoperatively (P < 0.001). The probing depth remained the same at all measurement times. The VISTA technique provided good results in terms of recession coverage. Although there was an improvement in the gingival biotype, the placement of a chorionic membrane did not provide any advantage in terms of percentage of root coverage.