Wound healing after mucoperiosteal surgery in the cat.

The purpose of this study was to examine possible tissue-dependent differences in rate of healing after mucogingival flap surgery. After intrasulcular incision and a vertical-releasing incision distal to the maxillary and mandibular cuspids, buccal, full-thickness mucogingival flaps were raised in four quadrants of 10 adult cats. The triangular flaps were left open for 30 min and then repositioned and sutured. Tissue reactions were studied histologically after 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 days of healing. Although new collagen occasionally was observed in the wound space in the free gingiva at 3 days, collagenous union between the cut dentogingival fibers and the flap seemed well established at 7 days. Flap reattachment to the denuded cortical bone was seen at 14 days in the region of the attached gingiva. In the region of the alveolar mucosa, however, residual coagulum and inflammatory reaction was present as late as at 28 days in several specimens. These observations indicate a marked difference in rate of healing among the different interfaces involved. These variations seem to be related to variations in size of the resulting wound space when a full-thickness mucoperiosteal flap is readapted over cervical root surfaces, alveolar bone crest, and denuded cortical bone, respectively.