Abstract
Background: Professional mechanical tooth cleaning (PMTC), originally proposed by Axelsson and co-workers, has been regarded as a key component of supportive periodontal therapy. Although long-term preventive programs including PMTC have been associated with reduced tooth loss, limited data are available from routine clinical settings comparing different maintenance cleaning modalities. Objective: The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to descriptively compare the number of tooth loss and newly treated teeth between patients who consistently selected PMTC combined with air polishing and those who selected insurance-covered scaling and polishing during long-term maintenance. Methods: This single-center retrospective cohort study included 10 patients who had completed basic periodontal therapy and had continued maintenance care for more than five years. Five patients consistently received PMTC with air polishing (PMTC group), and five patients consistently received insurance-covered cleaning (insurance group). The primary outcomes were the annual average number of tooth loss and newly treated teeth, calculated from clinical records and radiographic data. Due to the small sample size, only descriptive statistics were performed. Results: The annual mean number of tooth loss was 0.08 teeth in the PMTC group and 0.18 teeth in the insurance group. The annual mean number of newly treated teeth was 0.17 in the PMTC group and 0.81 in the insurance group. Descriptively, fewer tooth loss and restorative interventions were observed in the PMTC group. Conclusions: In this small retrospective cohort, patients who consistently received PMTC with air polishing showed fewer tooth loss and newly treated teeth compared with those who received insurance-covered cleaning. As this exploratory study does not control for potential confounders and lacks statistical testing, causal relationships cannot be established. Further prospective and larger-scale studies are warranted.
