For the current Oral Regeneration Topic Jia-Hui Fu spoke with Daniel Thoma and his key publication on Soft Tissue Augmentation/Thickening. It aimed to test whether soft tissue augmentation with a newly developed collagen matrix (CM) leads to volume gain in chronic ridge defects, similar to those obtained by an autogenous subepithelial connective tissue graft (SCTG).

The interview begins with the surprising fact that Thoma is actually primarily trained in prosthodontics and implant dentistry, and he only started to realise the importance of soft tissue when he had to restore implants. As he said, 20 years ago implants were all about bone, and it was only over time that the realisation that a good amount of soft tissue was associated with a good aesthetic outcome took hold. After years of using the autogenous soft tissue, he became interested in alternatives to the latter to increase patient comfort.