Keywords
crown lengthening
supracrestal tissue attachment
Abstract
The supracrestal tissue attachment (SCTA) space, formerly known as biologic width, forms an organic seal around the alveolus to maintain the health of the periodontium, which in turn affects the health of the tooth. Any violation to SCTA may lead to periodontal disease thereby compromising the prognosis of the teeth. The SCTA violation can be prevented by increasing the clinical crown height by moving the bone away from the gingival margin so that restorative margins can be placed at sound tooth structure at distance away from alveolar bone crest, which can be achieved through crown lengthening surgery, orthodontic extrusion or, surgical extrusion.
No universal dimension of SCTA appears to exist. It can be different at sites even within the same individual. Although the 2 mm of SCTA advised by Garguilo et al. has been the norm for use in all clinical situations, each individual site has to be assessed separately as many studies have shown that there is large variation in the epithelial and the connective tissue attachment and even a minimum encroachment will lead to its violation. Therefore, adequate understanding of SCTA along with its preservation and maintenance is essential to ensure form, function and aesthetics of the dentition.
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