Periodontal Flap Dental Surgery Gingivectomy Question And Answers

Periodontal Flap

Question 1. Define and classify periodontal flaps.
Or
Write short note on types of periodontal flap.
Answer. Periodontal flap is a section of gingiva and/or mucosa surgically elevated from underlying tissues to provide visibility and access to bone and root surface.

Classification/Types of Flap

According to thickness of flap/bone exposure after flap reflection:

• Full thickness/mucoperiosteal flap: All the soft tissues including periosteum are elevated.
• Partial thickness/mucosal flap/split thickness flap: reflection of only the epithelium and a layer of underlying connective tissue.

According to the placement of flap after surgery:

• Non-displaced flap: Flap is returned and suture back to its original position.
• Displaced flap: Flap is repositioned coronal, apical or lateral to its original position. e.g. lateral displaced flap, coronally displaced flap, apically displaced flap.

Read And Learn More: Periodontics Question And Answers

According to design of flap/management of the papilla:

• Conventional flap: Splitting the papilla into facial half and lingual/palatal half, e.g. modified Widman flap, undisplaced flap, apically displaced flap.
• Papilla preservation flap: Entire papilla is incorporated into one of the flaps.

Question 2. Write short answer on internal bevel gingivectomy.
Answer. Undisplaced flap differs from modified Widman flap in that the soft tissue pocket wall is removed with the initial incision; thus it is considered as an “internal bevel gingivectomy”.

• The undisplaced flap and the gingivectomy are two different techniques which surgically removes the pocket wall.
• To perform this technique without creating mucogingival problem, periodontist should determine that an amount of attached gingiva should be left after removing the pocket wall.