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Gingival RecessionNCT07200258

Changes in Soft Tissue Thickness Following Multiple Coronally Advanced Tunnel (MCAT) vs Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA)

A study testing Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA) and Modified Coronally Advanced Tunnel (MCAT) in people with Gingival Recession, run by Universidad Complutense de Madrid at 1 site in Spain.

Recruiting

Looking for participants now. Contact the study team or a site below to ask about taking part.

Sites and contacts
Official record
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Trial summary

This randomized clinical trial will compare two surgical methods for treating multiple adjacent gingival recessions (types RT1 and RT2): the Modified Coronally Advanced Tunnel (MCAT) and the Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA). Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and older
Conditions the study is for
Gingival Recession
What is being tested?
Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA) and Modified Coronally Advanced Tunnel (MCAT)
Type of treatment
Surgery or procedure
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
44 participants
Where
1 siteSpain
Study dates
15 Oct 2025to Jul 2028
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Periodontally and systemically healthy adults (age ≥ 18 years).
  • At least two adjacent sites exhibiting gingival recessions classified as recession type 1 (RT1) o type 2 (RT2) (Cairo et al., 2011), associated with dental hypersensitivity or aesthetic concerns.
  • Presence ≥2 mm depth on at least one recession
  • Smokers ≤ 10 cigarettes.
  • Full-mouth plaque and bleeding scores ≤20%.
  • Patients being able to maintain good oral hygiene.

Who cannot join

  • Compromised general health.
  • Pregnancy or attempting to get pregnant (self-reported).
  • Untreated periodontal diseases
  • Presence of: (i) severe tooth malposition; (ii) root caries or inadequate prosthetic restorations; (iii) previous periodontal plastic surgery at the experimental sites.
  • Smokers >10 cigarettes

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.

Ana Carrillo de Albornoz Sainz contact

+34 627588248

acarri02@ucm.es

Tommaso Conforti contact

+39 3383205344

tommconf@ucm.es

Spain1 site, 1 recruiting
  • University Complutense of Madrid

    Madrid

    tommaso conforti, 3383205344, tommaso.conf@gmail.com

    Recruiting

Other trials in Spain

About this study

Official title: Changes in Soft Tissue Thickness Following Multiple Coronally Advanced Tunnel (MCAT) vs Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA): A Randomized Clinical Trial With 3D Volumetric Analysis

This randomized clinical trial will compare two surgical methods for treating multiple adjacent gingival recessions (types RT1 and RT2): the Modified Coronally Advanced Tunnel (MCAT) and the Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA). Both methods will use connective tissue grafts (CTG), which are the best way to cover roots.

The main objective is to use three-dimensional (3D) digital volumetric analysis to look at how the thickness of soft tissue has changed after six and 12 months. Secondary outcomes include root coverage, esthetic outcomes, gingival health parameters, hypersensitivity, patient satisfaction, and wound healing quality.

There will be 44 volunteers, and they will be randomly assigned to one of the two surgical methods. Under the same settings, periodontal specialists in training will undertake the procedures at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. There will be follow-up evaluations at different times up to 12 months after the procedure. The results of this study will help determine whether remote incisions via the VISTA technique offer improved outcomes compared to the MCAT technique.

Read the detailed description

Parallel group, clinical evaluator and statistician blinded, randomized clinical trial.

Being tested
Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA), Modified Coronally Advanced Tunnel (MCAT)
Medical subject headings
Gingival Recession

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA)Procedure or surgery

    Remote incisions will be performed in the test group. The VISTA technique will be performed as described by Zadeh (Zadeh, 2011).

    After administration of local anaesthesia, an access incision will be made in the vestibulum to permit elevation of a broad subperiosteal tunnel. A specialized periosteal elevator will be used to create the tunnel by dissecting beneath the periosteum, extending at least one tooth beyond the recession defects and under each papilla, without surface incisions at the gingival margin. The connective tissue graft will be inserted and positioned beneath the tunnel through the incision. A coronally anchored suturing technique will be used. This technique mean placing a horizontal mattress suture using a 6.0 suture with at approximately 2 to 3 mm apical to the gingival margin of each tooth, covering the width of the tooth. If keratinized gingiva is present, the suture will be placed within the band of keratinized gingiva.

  • Modified Coronally Advanced Tunnel (MCAT)Procedure or surgery

    In the MCAT group, the surgical approach will follow the technique described by Aroca et al. (2010). After sulcular incisions made without releasing incisions, a full-thickness muco-periosteal tunnel will be carefully elevated beyond the mucogingival junction and under adjacent papillae using tunneling instruments. The root surfaces will be planed, and a subepithelial connective tissue graft will be harvested from the palatal donor site and inserted into the tunnel. Suspended horizontal mattress sutures will be placed around the contact points to advance and stabilize the flap in a position coronal to the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ) (previous composite at the contact point if necessary). Postoperative care will be identical to that described for the VISTA group.

Study groups in NCT07200258
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Arm 1 : Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA)ExperimentalPatients in this arm will receive the Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA) technique, involving remote vestibular incisions and subperiosteal tunneling to treat multiple gingival recessions. A connective tissue graft (CTG) will be inserted and stabilized using a coronally anchored suturing technique.
Receives: Procedure: Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA)
Arm 2 : Modified Coronally Advanced Tunnel Technique (MCAT)ExperimentalNot described
Receives: Procedure: Modified Coronally Advanced Tunnel (MCAT)

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Areal Marginal Soft Tissue Thickness (aTHK)

    Soft tissue thickness will be measured using volumetric analysis of STL digital intraoral scans. The region of interest (ROI) corresponds to the previously exposed root surface. The volume difference between baseline and follow-up scans (6 months) will be divided by the surface area leading to an areal thickness (aTHK), expressed in millimeters.

    Measured: Baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months post-surgery

Secondary outcomes (21)
  1. Mean Root coverage

    Percentage of root coverage compared with baseline recession depth. Unit of Measure: % Measurement Tool: UNC-15 periodontal probe

    Measured: 3, 6 and 12 months

  2. Recession Depth

    Distance from gingival margin to cemento-enamel junction (GM-CEJ). Unit of Measure: mm Measurement Tool: UNC-15 periodontal probe

    Measured: Baseline, 3 , 6 and 12 months

  3. Probing Pocket Depth

    Distance from the gingival margin to the bottom of the sulcus at the mid-buccal site.

    Unit of Measure: mm Measurement Tool: UNC-15 periodontal probe

    Measured: baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months.

  4. Keratinized tissue Width

    Distance from gingival margin to mucogingival junction.

    Unit of Measure: mm

    Measurement Tool: UNC-15 periodontal probe

    Measured: baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months.

  5. Gingival Thickness

    Gingival phenotype assessed by probe transparency.

    Unit of Measure: Thick/Thin (categorical)

    Measurement Tool: UNC-15 periodontal probe

    Measured: baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months.

  6. Loss of Attachment

    Presence or absence of interproximal clinical attachment loss at treated sites.

    Unit of Measure: mm

    Measurement Tool: UNC-15 periodontal probe

    Measured: Baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months.

  7. Root Coverage Esthetic Score

    Esthetic evaluation of root coverage outcomes (0-10 composite score).

    Unit of Measure: Score (0-10)

    Measurement Tool: RES index (Cairo 2009) from standardized photographs

    Measured: 3 6 and 12 months.

  8. Dental Hypersensitivity

    Sensitivity to air stimulus at cervical area.

    Unit of Measure: Frequency (%) of teeth with sensitivity

    Measurement Tool: Standardized air-blast test (10 seconds)

    Measured: baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months

  9. Flap Tension

    Residual flap tension during coronal advancement.

    Unit of Measure: Newtons (N)

    Measurement Tool: Calibrated tension meter (Burkhardt \& Lang, 2010)

    Measured: Baseline

  10. Oral Health Impact Profile

    Patient-reported outcomes using the OHIP-14 questionnaire.

    Unit of Measure: Score (0-56; higher = worse QoL)

    Measurement Tool: Validated Spanish version of OHIP-14

    Measured: Baseline, 3 6 and 12 month

  11. Patients Concerns with recession

    Patient concerns related to gingival recession will be measured with a condition-specific health-related quality-of-life instrument using a custom 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire assessing five questions: esthetic concern, sensitivity to cold, sensitivity to brushing, root/tooth wear, and fear of tooth loss. Each item is rated from 1 ("not concerned") to 5 ("extremely concerned"). Changes in scores over time will be used to evaluate perceived improvement.

    Measured: Baseline, 6 and 12 month

  12. Time to recovery

    Number of days until patient-reported recovery after surgery. Recovery is defined as "no or slight trouble" (score 1-2) on all items of the Post-op diary, and pain ≤2 cm on VAS.

    Unit of Measure: Days

    Measurement Tool: Periodontal Surgery Post-op (PS Postop) diary with VAS (0-10 cm) and Likert scales

    Measured: from baseline to 14 days post surgery

  13. Digital recession depth

    Apico-coronal extension of recession measured digitally.

    Unit of Measure: mm

    Measurement Tool: Intraoral scanner (3Shape TRIOS) and Nemotec software

    Measured: Baseline, 3 6 and 12 month

  14. Digital Complete root coverage

    Whether gingival margin reached/surpassed CEJ.

    Unit of Measure: Binary (Yes/No)

    Measurement Tool: Intraoral scanner (3Shape TRIOS) and Nemotec software

    Measured: Baseline, 3 6 and 12 month

  15. Digital Percentage of root coverage

    Percentage of root coverage compared with baseline, digitally measured.

    Unit of Measure: %

    Measurement Tool: Intraoral scanner (3Shape TRIOS) and Nemotec software

    Measured: Baseline, 3 6 and 12 month

  16. Digital Pointwise Marginal Soft Tissue Thickness

    Gingival thickness at specific points in cross-section.

    Unit of Measure: mm

    Measurement Tool: Intraoral scanner (3Shape TRIOS) and Nemotec software

    Measured: Baseline, 3 6 and 12 month

  17. Surgery duration

    Total duration of surgical procedure.

    Unit of Measure: Minutes

    Measurement Tool: Stopwatch (recorded intraoperatively)

    Measured: During Surgery

  18. Full mouth plaque Score

    Plaque presence will be recorded at six sites per tooth using a periodontal probe and expressed as the percentage of plaque-positive sites over the total number of sites examined.

    Measured: Baseline 3 6 and 12 months

  19. Full mouth bleeding Score

    Bleeding on probing will be recorded at six sites per tooth. The FMBS will be calculated as the percentage of sites showing bleeding after probing with a periodontal probe over the total number of sites examined.

    Measured: Baseline, 3 6 and 12 month

  20. Wound Healing Index

    Wound healing will be evaluated using a modified semi-quantitative composite index based on the methodology described by Tonetti (Tonetti et al., 2018).

    Healing is assessed evaluating four variables.

    Flap Margin Assessment

    Papillae Evaluation

    Graft Site Examination

    Suture Evaluation

    Measured: Day 7, week 2 , Week 4 and 3 months

  21. Modified Coronally advanced tunnel Difficulty score (MCATDS) for the treatment of gingival recessions

    The MCATDS, developed by Górski in 2025 (Gorski et al. 2025), is a standardized scoring system to assess the complexity of treating multiple gingival recessions using the MCAT technique.

    The parameters include:

    • Tooth position (maxillary vs mandibular)
    • Tooth type (incisor/canine, premolar, molar)
    • Recession type (RT1, RT2, RT3)
    • Recession depth (<4 mm vs ≥4 mm)
    • Number of recessions involved (≤2, 3-4, ≥5)
    • Uniformity of recession sizes
    • Baseline keratinized tissue height
    • Gingival biotype (thick vs thin)
    • Frenulum presence and distance to gingival margin
    • Presence of scar tissue
    • Detectability of the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ)
    • Cervical step (>0.5 mm)
    • Tooth malposition

    Each parameter contributes between 0 and 2 points. The total score ranges from 0 to 17, and difficulty is categorized as:

    • Easy (0-5 points): Suitable for novice clinicians
    • Moderate (6-11 points): Requires experienced operators
    • Difficult (12-17 points): Reserved for highly skilled surgeons

    Measured: Baseline

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted1 Oct 2025
  2. Study start15 Oct 2025
  3. Primary completionJul 2027 (estimated)
  4. Study completionJul 2028 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Double blind
Who is masked
Investigator, Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
44 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT07200258
Sponsor's protocol ID
UCM_MCAT-VISTA RCT
Status last verified
Jan 2026
First submitted
14 Jul 2025
Last updated
13 Feb 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Vestibular Incision Subperiosteal Tunnel Access (VISTA) and Modified Coronally Advanced Tunnel (MCAT) in people with Gingival Recession, run by Universidad Complutense de Madrid at 1 site in Spain.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 6 inclusion and 5 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 13 Feb 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Spain. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

Contact Ana Carrillo de Albornoz Sainz (+34 627588248, acarri02@ucm.es), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Areal Marginal Soft Tissue Thickness (aTHK) (time frame: Baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months post-surgery). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 13 Feb 2026.

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