Minimally Invasive Surgical Techniques for Periodontal Regeneration: Preserving the Entire Papilla Without Dissection—A Narrative Review

TL;DR

This review explores minimally invasive periodontal surgery techniques that preserve the entire papilla without dissection, aiming to improve healing and reduce complications.

Contribution

The paper provides a narrative review of novel minimally invasive techniques for periodontal regeneration that avoid papillary incision.

Findings

Preserving the entire papilla may facilitate early soft tissue healing and reduce trauma.

Current evidence is limited to case series and case reports, with a lack of randomized controlled trials.

These techniques may improve flap stability and reduce procedure time compared to conventional methods.

Abstract

Background: The aim of the present narrative review is to synthesize the available scientific evidence on the minimally invasive surgical techniques for periodontal regeneration preserving the entire papilla without dissection. Surgical treatment of intrabony defects may result in compromising the integrity of the interdental tissues and subsequent papilla loss. Therefore, it is indicated to investigate the approaches avoiding papillary incision over the osseous defect, thus optimizing wound healing conditions. Methods: Authors performed a search of literature via electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, and Scopus, and extended by manual searching with a stop date of February 2025. Based on inclusion criteria only randomized clinical trials (RCT), cohort studies, case–control studies, and case series were included, and 106 records were initially identified. Various aspects of described novel approaches preserving the entire papilla were finally discussed. Results: A total of 12 studies were evaluated. There is a significant lack of randomized controlled clinical trials on minimally invasive techniques without incision in the papilla. However, numerous modifications of existing techniques have emerged, mainly in the form of case series and case reports with short-term data. Among them, some authors stated that the entire papilla preservation approaches may facilitate early soft tissue healing, reduce papilla trauma and the risk of gingival recession, minimize procedure time, improve flap stability, and alleviate discomfort and side effects, while others reported similar outcomes to conventional approaches and emphasize the need for further comparative clinical trials. Conclusions: Preserving papilla integrity and the soft tissue profile is essential for minimizing complications, especially in the esthetic zone. Within the limitations of this narrative review, presented findings emphasize the effectiveness of entire papilla preservation techniques in preventing post-surgery tissue loss compared to conventional incisions and flaps. Randomized controlled trials with longer follow-up periods and larger sample sizes are necessary to validate the efficacy of these approaches in comparison to established papilla preservation techniques.

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