page_title: Subepithelial connective tissue graft
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Subepithelial connective tissue graft / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Retrieval of the subepithelial connective tissue graft from the palate and placement at the recipient site.
context_page_description: In dentistry, the subepithelial connective tissue graft is an oral and maxillofacial surgical procedure first described by Alan Edel in 1974. Currently, it is generally used to obtain root coverage following gingival recession, which was a later development by Burt Langer in the early 1980s.
context_section_description: As initially described by Edel, the treatment objective was to increase the zone of keratinized tissue.  Others, including Broome and Taggert and Donn also described the use of SECT grafts for increasing the zone of keratinized tissue.
  Of the various ways of preparing the graft recipient site, Edel described using two vertical incisions, mesial and distal to the teeth at which the zone of keratinized tissue was intended to be widened.
  At the donor site, Edel described three methods for choosing and preparing the donor site to obtain connective tissue for the SECT graft:
  palatal partial thickness flap
  palatal full-partial thickness flap
  tuberosity partial thickness flap
  Contrary to the donor site for a free gingival graft, the surgeon is able to achieve primary closure at the donor site for a SECT.
  Langer later described the SECT as a method by which to augment concavities and irregularities of the alveolar ridge following traumatic extractions, advanced periodontitis or developmental defects.  Currently, though, such augmentation of hard tissue defects tends to be done with hard tissue replacements, namely bone graft materials.
  However, it was only in 1985 that Langer proposed the SECT for root coverage following gingival recession.
caption: Ipsilateral palatal mucosa serving as the donor siteThe retrieved connective tissue, approximately 25 × 6 mm in dimensionConnective tissue placed at recipient siteRecipient site flap coronally advanced and sutured to entirely cover the graft
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