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Clinical and computed tomographic evaluations of periodontal phenotypes in a Chinese population: a cross-sectional study

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Abstract

Objectives

To investigate the diagnostic value of probe transparency related to gingival thickness (GT) and keratinized gingival width (KGW) at individual and site levels and explore the relationship of buccal bone plate thickness (BT) with GT and KGW.

Materials and methods

A total of 1,606 teeth from 167 patients with periodontally healthy maxillary anterior region were included. GT was measured with probe transparency and transgingival probing. KGW was measured directly. BTs were assessed at the level 1 mm apical to the alveolar crest (BT1) and midpoint of the root (BT2) and evaluated at individual and tooth levels along with their mutual associations.

Results

The prevalence of thick gingiva was 53% with probe transparency measurement and 51% with transgingival probing. The cutoff gingival thickness was 0.8 mm, which correlated moderately with a Cohen’s kappa of 0.386. The mean GT, KGW, and BTs (BT1 and BT2) in the maxillary anterior region were 0.97 ± 0.46, 5.51 ± 1.62, 0.85 ± 0.31, and 0.79 ± 0.32 mm, respectively. GT and KGW correlated mildly (r = 0.261), and GT and BTs correlated moderately (BT1: r = 0.298; BT2: r = 0.338). GT and BTs differed significantly between men and women and among different tooth sites.

Conclusions

GT and BTs correlated positively in the maxillary anterior region and varied within and among individuals. Sex was a factor influencing the gingival phenotype and bone morphotype.

Clinical relevance

GT measured with transgingival probing, with a cutoff of 0.8 mm, could serve as an objective measure to distinguish different gingival phenotypes.

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Data availability

The data that support the fndings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

The study was supported by National Natural Science Foundations of China (Project Number: 81800978) and the Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology (PKUSSNCT- 20B10, PKUSS20200105). The funders had no role in the design of the study, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, or in writing the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Yong Zhang and Fan Chen are contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. First Clinical Division, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology & National Center for Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & National Engineering Laboratory for Digital and Material Technology of Stomatology & Beijing Key Laboratory of Digital Stomatology, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China

    Yong Zhang, Jinyu Duan & Fei Xue

  2. Department of Stomatology, People’s Hospital of Peking University, Beijing, 100044, People’s Republic of China

    Fan Chen

  3. Department of Periodontology, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology & National Center for Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & National Engineering Laboratory for Digital and Material Technology of Stomatology & Beijing Key Laboratory of Digital Stomatology, No.22 South Avenue Zhongguancun, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China

    Ni Kang & Yu Cai

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Contributions

Y.Z. F.X. and Y.C. conceptualized the overall strategy. Y.Z and F.C. equally contributed to the clinical translation and implementation, and preparation of the manuscript and figures. N.K. and JY.D. designed and performed the statistical analyses and preparation of the manuscript, including text and figures. F.X. and Y.C. provided supervision and wrote and edited the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Fei Xue or Yu Cai.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

The Ethics Committee of the Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology approved the study protocol. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Zhang, Y., Chen, F., Kang, N. et al. Clinical and computed tomographic evaluations of periodontal phenotypes in a Chinese population: a cross-sectional study. Clin Oral Invest 27, 3569–3577 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-023-04970-y

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