Q: Gum Attachment: Healing of the gum may occur within a few days. Does this mean that there also will be complete attachment of the gum to the tooth root in this period of time? In addition, where there was a 7mm pocket depth, when would ligament formation be expected to be completed, in most cases?
A: If you are referring to epithelial attachment in the absence of a long junctional epithelium, then this could take weeks, months, and in some cases years. We also might get incremental attachment (connective tissue) over time as well. This is based on human histological studies already completed and our clinical cases over the last 7 years.
Our clinical cases have shown radiographic regeneration with an intact lamina dura in as little as 3 months, and we also have cases that, over a period of several years, continue to show bone changes ultimately leading to an intact lamina dura with bone fill. We know we have reached our limit when we see an intact lamina dura.
It is impossible to know the exact histological changes that occur without taking block sections on our patients, but the current evidence shows changes histologically as early as several weeks.
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