Table 3.

Mean ± SE (mm) registered for the changes of gingival contour width; n = 32 (Max = 13, Mand = 19)

			Pre-post operation (TP-T0)	Baseline − 1 month (TP-T1)	Baseline − 3 months (TP-T3)	Baseline – 6 months (TP-T6)	p-valuea
Buccal width (BW)	Total change	Maxillary	0.11 ± 0.11	-0.29 ± 0.19	-0.44 ± 0.26	-0.62 ± 0.26	0.045*
		Mandibular	0.37 ± 0.12*	-0.27 ± 0.14	-0.49 ± 0.17	-0.75 ± 0.20*	0.001*
		All	0.27 ± 0.08*	-0.28 ± 0.11	-0.47 ± 0.14*	-0.70 ± 0.16*	< 0.001*
	Intra-period change		0.27 ± 0.08*	-0.55 ± 0.12*	-0.19 ± 0.09	-0.23 ± 0.09	< 0.001*
Palatal/ Lingual width (LW)	Total change	Maxillary	0.05 ± 0.07	-0.44 ± 0.17	-0.61 ± 0.19	-0.73 ± 0.20*	0.033*
		Mandibular	0.29 ± 0.07*	-0.13 ± 0.09	-0.26 ± 0.13	-0.39 ± 0.13	0.001*
		All	0.19 ± 0.05*	-0.26 ± 0.09	-0.40 ± 0.11*	-0.53 ± 0.11*	< 0.001*
	Intra-period change		0.19 ± 0.05*	-0.45 ± 0.08*	-0.15 ± 0.05	-0.12 ± 0.03*	< 0.001*
Sum of width (BLW)	Total change	Maxillary	0.16 ± 0.16	-0.73 ± 0.33	-1.06 ± 0.43	-1.34 ± 0.43	0.012*
		Mandibular	0.66 ± 0.16*	-0.41 ± 0.18	-0.75 ± 0.26	-1.14 ± 0.25*	< 0.001*
		All	0.46 ± 0.12*	-0.54 ± 0.17*	-0.87 ± 0.23*	-1.22 ± 0.22*	< 0.001*
	Intra-period change		0.46 ± 0.12*	-0.99 ± 0.16*	-0.34 ± 0.12	-0.35 ± 0.10*	< 0.001*

^a Multivariate test. *Statistically significant values (p < 0.05)

Positive and negative valves indicate gingival margins higher and lower, respectively