Sutures -everything you should know

Suture material that retains long term strength for up to 14 days and resorbs in 21 to 28 days is polyglycolic acid (PGA )

Conversely suture to be placed intraorally where tissue heals quickly ; surgical gut or the new rapidly resorbable PGA suture material (PGA -FA) is used.



Degradation of absorbable , biological origin sutures such as surgical gut ( plain & chromic gut) are digested by intra oral enzymes .

Gut suture is from animal protein
Which resorbs in 1 to 2 days. If coated with chromic compound, it extends 7 to 10 days.

Fast absorbing PGA FA suture is made from synthetic polymers and dissolves in 7 to 10 days. It should be used when gut suture is contraindicated .

Thread sutures range in diameter from 0 to 10

The higher the number, the thinner and more delicate the thread.


5-0 diameter is used in plastic perio surgery
4- 0 diameter is used for other perio flaps.

3-0 diameter used in implant surgeries when mattress suturing technique is used. 4-0 is used when interrupted or continuos techniques are used.


Silk is a classical suture used in dentistry . It's nonresorbable inexpensive multifilament material. Dentist should remove it in a week. It's down side is pulling bacteria into the wound site. In this case nonresorbable sutures such as nylon, polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene or expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (e-PTFE) are a better choice.


Polyester sutures are made of multifilaments braided in a single strand. This suture is coated with absorbable compound that makes the knot untie if not secured well by the dentist

e-PTFE is better in this regard . It is nonresorbable monofilament that has high tensile strength but a little more expensive than polyester.

The 3/8and 1/2 are the most used suture needles in dentistry .


The 3/8 passes easily from buccal to lingual in one motion

The 1/2 circle needle is used in more restricted areas such as maxillary molar area and anterior incisal areas.


Generally in dentistry the 3/8 reverse cutting needle with 3-0 or 4-0 thread diameter and the 1/2 reverse cutting needle with the thinner more delicate 5-0 or 6-0 thread diameter are most commonly used.