Print | Email | Share | Comments (1)

Benign New Gum Treatment Seems to Work Long-Term

Jul 31, 2009

A new treatment for receding gums that uses patients' own blood to encourage regeneration seems to have "legs" and hold up over the long term, according to a small study by researchers at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.

Receding gums are a common problem among people with diabetes. The disease inflames the periodontal tissue, which eventually shrinks back from teeth, exposing tooth roots to injury and disease.

Until recently, the most common form of therapy for receding gums has been surgery that replaces lost tissue with tissue taken from the roof a patient's mouth and grafted onto the affected areas. Drawbacks to the surgery include post-operative pain and stitches in the patient's mouth.

The Tufts scientists tracked the longevity of an alternative therapy, originally developed at the same university, called guided tissue regeneration. In GTR, dental surgeons draw blood from a patient and retrieve platelets. The platelets contain proteins, called growth factors, that aid in tissue repair. The surgeons soak a collagen membrane in the platelets, then suture it over the receding gum.

Researchers tracked six patients who had had the procedure done among them on 37 teeth. At six months, regenerated tissue was completely covering the roots of two-thirds of the teeth, and after three years, 57 percent of the treated teeth still had complete root coverage.

The results, they say, are comparable to those achieved by conventional graft surgery, but with less pain and no need to remove tissue from another part of the mouth.

Because the study sample was small, researchers are not ready to say that GTR will surpass or replace conventional grafting treatments, but they do expect the therapy to rapidly become better known now that there are some long-term results to study.

Their findings were published in the Journal of Periodontology, July 2009.

Categories: Complications & Care, Diabetes, Diabetes, Health Care, Oral Health, Research, Type 1 Issues, Type 2 Issues

Comments

Posted by Lal76 on 5 August 2009

Are more studies being conducted across the country? And if so, do they have research centers who accept volunteers for this study? Receeding gums are a problem for many people, and some would even like to be part of a study.

Add your comments about this article below. You can add comments as a registered user or anonymously. If you choose to post anonymously your comments will be sent to our moderator for approval before they appear on this page. If you choose to post as a registered user your comments will appear instantly.

When voicing your views via the comment feature, please respect the Diabetes Health community by refraining from comments that could be considered offensive to other people. Diabetes Health reserves the right to remove comments when necessary to maintain the cordial voice of the diabetes community.

For your privacy and protection, we ask that you do not include personal details such as address or telephone number in any comments posted.

Don't have your Diabetes Health Username? Register now and add your comments to all our content.

Have Your Say...

Registered User Anonymous

Your Name:	Your Email:	X

Recipient's Name:	Recipient's Email:

Your Chosen Username:	Your Email Address:

Chosen Password:	Confirm Password:

Email to a Friend

Benign New Gum Treatment Seems to Work Long-Term

You May Also Be Interested In...

Comments

Register...

Have Your Say...

Diabetes Health

Topics

Topics

Topics

Diabetes Health Medical Disclaimer

Comment: