Evaluation of the relationship between gingival phenotype and alveolar bone morphology

Objective In recent years, the determination of gingival phenotype has gained importance in the field of dentistry. Bone and gingival relationship may directly affect the success rate of treatment modalities. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between gingival phenotype and underlying alveolar bone thickness. Methods In this study, we investigated the relationship between the clinical periodontal parameters and gingival phenotypes on the cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) image taken in the last 3 months of a total of 207 teeth. The gingival phenotype was identified as “thin” / “medium” / “thick” with the newly developed Hu-Friedy Colorvue ？ phenotype probe. Clinical periodontal parameters, width of keratinized tissue and gingival recession values were recorded. Buccal bone thickness was measured at three points, as crestal 1, 2 and 4 mm. on CBCT images. Results According to the results, in thin phenotype, width of keratinized gingiva and bone thickness at three levels was found significantly lower than thick phenotype (p<0.016). In medium phenotype bone thickness at crestal 2 and 4 mm were found to be significantly less than the thick phenotype (p<0.016). Additionally a negative correlation was seen between gingival recession and bone thickness at crestal 2 and 4 mm levels (p<0.05). Conclusions We observed that there was a significant positive correlation between the gingival phenotype and buccal alveolar bone thickness. We suggest that the amount of bone thickness may be effective on ginigval recession