Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to investigate the effect of maintenance care on periodontal conditions of abutment and non-abutment teeth at 5-year follow-up.
Methods: A total of 231 one patients were treated with rempval partial dentures (RPDs) at the Tohoku University Hospital from 1996 to 2005. Of the 231 patients, 108 who had agreed to undergo 5-year follow-up were examined. The RPD prognoses were categorized into three categories: successful (n = 63), remake (n = 35), and failure (n = 14). Among the successful subjects, 34 patients who received periodic maintenance were selected as study subjects and divided into two groups, M ≥ 4 (subjects who received periodic maintenance more than 4 times per year), and M ≤ 3 (received periodic maintenance 3 or fewer times per year). The variables analyzed were (1) O’Leary’s Plaque Control Record (PCR), (2) Pocket depth (PD), (3) Miller’s tooth mobility (TM), and (4) Bone resorption level (BRL). Periodontal conditions of remaining teeth at the follow-up clinical examination were compared with the results of the first examination when RPDs were inserted by using the Wilcoxon signed rank test.
Results: In the M ≥ 4 group, significant differences were not found in the 4 variables of the abutment teeth. However, non-abutment teeth showed significant improvement in PD and TM between the time of placement and 5 years later. In the M ≤ 3 group, the abutment and non-abutment teeth showed statistically significant deterioration in PCR, PD, and BRL, whereas significant improvement was found in the non-abutment teeth.
Conclusions: Maintenance care more than 4 times per year was effective to maintain good periodontal conditions for the wearers of PRDs.
