A Study for Periodontal Treatment and Tooth Loss

Abstract

Our retrospective survey was to determine the prevalence of tooth loss and associated dental pathologies during active and maintenance periodontal therapy by the general practitioner. Results were compared to those from the periodontal clinic at the Nippon Dental University School of Dentistry at Niigata. Subjects were 92 patients diagnosed with chronic adult periodontitis who had undergone comprehensive care consisting of periodontal and restorative treatment and who had participated in a supervised maintenance program for over 5 years. 38 patients were at the periodontal clinic.
Results indicated that 3.3% of periodontally treated teeth were lost during active treatment or maintenance among patients seen by general practitioners and 6.2% at the periodontal clinic.
The only pathology of periodontal disease was observed in 61% of patients seen by general practitioners compared to 89.7% at the periodontal clinic. The pathology of periodontal disease was observed in about 90% of periodontal clinic patients. Caries and endodontic pathology were observed in about 40% of patients seen by general practitioner. Some 32.5% of the only pathology for periodontal disease were lost at general practitioners during active treatment compared to 77.6% lost at the periodontal clinic. Some 28.6% of teeth treated by general practitioners were lost during the maintenance phase compared to 12.1% at the periodontal clinic. Almost all teeth were lost during active treatment at the periodontal clinic. The rate of teeth loss during maintenance due to periodontitis was 1.0% for general practitioners' patients and 0.8% at the periodontal clinic. This suggests that treatment was effective for long-term maintenance of dentition in these subjects.