Healing Following Simple Gingivectomy. A Tritiated Thymidine Radioautographic Study. I. Epithelialization

Treatment of Multiple Areas of Gingival Recession Using a Simple Harvesting Technique for Autogenous Connective Tissue Graft

“…The connective tissue graft that is removed with this technique does not invade the palatal submucosal layer; therefore, postoperative morbidity and secondary wound healing are reduced, unlike other grafting procedures that require a deeper dissection of 1.5 to 2.0 mm thickness 19,29 . An animal study 30 showed that gingival epithelial cells migrate at a rate of 0.5 mm per day. Because only the superficial layer of the palatal mucosa is removed, there is less connective tissue to fill by secondary wound healing, and the palatal tissues reepithelialize quickly 31 .…”

Spontaneous Pigmentation of Non‐Pigmented Palatal Tissue After Periodontal Surgery

“…Upon excisional gingival wounding, as seen with the harvesting of a free gingival graft, mitotic activity of the epithelial basal layer increases up to 12‐fold 33 . This increased activity typically initiates at the wound margins and progresses centripetally 33,34 . Accordingly, in this case report, spontaneous pigmentation upon healing was initially noted along the wound margins of the palatal harvest sites.…”

“…During wound healing, a variety of factors may upregulate melanocyte activity leading to increased pigmentation. Upon excisional gingival wounding, as seen with the harvesting of a free gingival graft, mitotic activity of the epithelial basal layer increases up to 12‐fold 33 . This increased activity typically initiates at the wound margins and progresses centripetally 33,34 .…”

Periodontal and Endodontic Regeneration

“…PDL cells, alveolar bone cells, and possibly cementoblasts are all capable of periodontal regeneration, whereas epithelial cells typically produce repair and/or long junctional epithelium formation. Epithelial cells migrate approximately 10 times faster than other periodontal cells types, which is why periodontal therapy typically results in the formation of long junctional epithelium (7). If the epithelial cells could be excluded from the wound long enough for other cell types with regenerative potential to become established, epithelial downgrowth could be prevented (8)(9)(10).…”