The Role of Smoking and Gingival Crevicular Fluid Markers on Coronally Advanced Flap Outcomes

Cigarette smoking is a patient-related factor that can affect healing of periodontal tissues and the success rate of root-coverage procedures. Neither the nature nor the mechanisms of action of cigarette smoking on root coverage are fully understood. Therefore, the hypothesis that cigarette smoking has negative impacts on the outcomes of root coverage after CAF surgery in systemically healthy individuals with an initial gingival thickness of at least 0.8 mm and who practice optimal oral hygiene was tested. It was also hypothesized that baseline analysis of disease-related biomarkers would shed light on the underlying mechanisms of a possible effect.