The association between embrasure morphology and central papilla recession: a noninvasive assessment method.

BACKGROUND The distance from bone crest to contact point is only the most frequently studied of the many factors that influence whether interdental papilla are present. The purpose of this study was to discover the association between embrasure morphology and central papilla recession. METHODS The central papilla was visually assessed in 310 adults using paralleling periapical radiographs of the maxillary central incisors. The following vertical distances were measured: the recession distance, i.e., papilla tip (PT) to contact point (PT-CP), bone crest (BC) to contact point (BC-CP), proximal cementoenamel junction (pCEJ) to contact point (pCEJ-CP), papilla height (PH), and bone crest to proximal cementoenamel junction (BC-pCEJ). Interdental width was measured horizontally. Subjects were divided into 4 groups according to interdental width and pCEJ-CP distance: long-narrow, short-narrow, long-wide, and short-wide. RESULTS Statistical analysis revealed the following for all four study groups: a positive correlation between papilla recession distance and age, a positive correlation between bone crest-contact point distance and age, and a negative correlation between age and papilla height. CONCLUSION Central papilla recession as a result of aging occurs most frequently in the long-wide group, that is, among people who have both a wide interdental width and a long distance between the proximal cementoenamel junction and the contact point. However, other factors also affect the likelihood of central papilla recession. Thus, there is a need for further study of the interaction among these causal factors.