Soft tissue volume gain around dental implants using autogenous subepithelial connective tissue grafts harvested from the lateral palate or tuberosity area. A randomized controlled clinical study

Aim To compare the soft tissue volume gain ( VG ) around single tooth implants with subepithelial connective tissue graft ( SCTG ) from either the lateral palate ( LP ) or from the tuberosity area ( TA ). Methods Thirty‐two patients with 36 implants with buccal volume deficiencies were randomly assigned to receive SCTG from LP (control group/ CG ) or TA (test group/ TG ). Clinical parameters were recorded. VG was evaluated by stereolithography (STL) image superimposition of two intraoral scans (baseline/ BL and 3 months after surgery/ FU ‐3). Descriptive analysis was performed for both groups, and for comparisons, Mann–Whitney U test was used. Results In terms of VG values, no statistically significant differences were observed except for values at 6 and 7 mm apically to the healing abutment which favoured the TG . Mean values were 0.69 ± 0.23 mm for CG while TG obtained 0.79 ± 0.10 mm ( p  = .64). Regarding Keratinized tissue ( KT ) width statistical significant differences were found favouring TG , which obtained a gain of 0.83 ± 0.61 mm compared with 0.22 ± 0.48 mm for CG ( p  = .009). Pink esthetic scores resulted in mean values of 10.07 ± 2.19 for the CG , while TG obtained 9.15 ± 2.34. Conclusions Both procedures were effective in increasing soft tissue volume with no statistically significant differences. A longer follow‐up is needed to confirm or refute these results.