Correlation between gingival biotype, width of keratinized gingiva, and different dental malocclusion: a clinical study

AIM: Gingival biotype is considered as an important factor in the success of periodontal and orthodontic treatment. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of the gingival biotype, the width of keratinized gingiva in a group of patients with different types of Angle’s classification of malocclusion. MATERIALS AND METHOD: A total of 82 periodontally healthy volunteer patients (44 females and 38 males, mean 13.9 years old) were enrolled in the study. Gingival biotype was assessed by the evaluation on the translucence of a periodontal probe through the gingival margin of the tooth during the probing at the midfacial aspect of both maxillary central, lateral incisors and canine. Moreover, on each patient, Angle’s classification of malocclusion was also recorded. In order to assess the association between gender, gingival biotype and Angle’s classification of malocclusion (categorical variables) Chi-square test was used. For continuous variables, Student’s t-test was performed in order to gender and the gingival biotype (thin or thick type). RESULTS: The prevalence in the whole sample of thin gingival biotype was 44.8%, and thick gingival biotype was 55.2%. The frequency of female gender with thin gingival biotype was significantly less respect to male patients (41.9% and 58.1%, respectively) while the frequency of thick gingival biotype was higher in the female respect to male patients (56.4% and 43.6%, respectively) (χ2=1.329, p=0.237). In the whole sample, the Angle’s classification was a class I malocclusion= 42.8%, class II= 29.4%, and class III= 27.8%. There was no significant difference in the distribution of malocclusion between genders (χ2=1.725; p=0.445). There was not a significant association between type of malocclusion and gingival biotype (p=0.143). However, there was a prevalence of thick gingival biotype in a patient with class II malocclusion and a slight prevalence of thin gingival biotype in a patient with class I malocclusion. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed that even if was a prevalence of thin gingival biotype in female patients and a thick gingival biotype in a patient with class II malocclusion, no relationship was found between gingival biotypes and dental malocclusion in the whole analyzed the sample.