The quality, quantity and health of the soft tissues around teeth and implants are playing significant role on long-term survival and success. A favourable soft tissue situation will ensure harmonious aesthetics can be achieved whilst facilitating effective maintenance and on-going tissue health. Soft tissue regenerative procedures must be considered in clinical situations where soft tissue is compromised. The gold standard for managing soft tissue deficiencies is use of autogenous tissues (i.e. connective tissue and/or free gingival grafts). Techniques using autogenous grafts are reliable and successful. However, they are not without limitations and drawbacks. Autogenous grafting requires a surgical donor site(s), results in post-operative pain/discomfort, harvests tissues of variable quality, offers limited (finite) amount of donor material, and sometimes results in grafts with sub-optimal texture and colour match. Fortunately, clinicians and patients now have reliable alternatives for managing situations of compromised keratinised tissue width and/or soft tissue volume without the need for autogenous tissues. Xenogenic collagen matrices have been shown to be safe and effective whilst avoiding many of the limitations associated with the autogenous tissue approach.
This full-day hands-on workshop will discuss the scientific basis for soft tissue regeneration using both autogenous and xenogenic materials, including advantages, limitations, and indications. Attendees will gain the knowledge and skills required to use xenogenic materials in treating soft tissue deficiencies. Prevention and management of soft tissue surgical complications and general soft tissue management (flap designs and suturing techniques) will also be addressed.

Key Topics:

- Implications of soft tissue deficiencies around natural teeth, crowns and bridges, and implants
- Experiences with autogenous grafting
- The structure and supportive science of xenogenic materials
- Instrumentation
- Appropriate flap designs
- Hands-on techniques using xenografts to:
a) gain width of keratinised tissue
b) enhance soft tissue volume
c) achieve recession coverage
- The future direction of soft tissue management – latest research and developments
- Complications – prevention and management
This course is designed for practitioners with an interest in expanding their treatment concepts for soft tissue regeneration.