Case Report of a Generalized Severe Chronic Periodontitis Patient who Improved with Initial Periodontal Therapy

Abstract

I report the case of a patient with generalized severe chronic periodontitis who improved with initial periodontal therapy. During the initial periodontal therapy, we asked patient characteristics carefully and made her aware of the importance of oral self-care. The patient was a 39-year-old woman and her main complaint was sharp pain in no. 17 when biting down. At the initial clinical examination, gingival recession, redness and swelling were noted. Dental X-ray revealed severe alveolar bone loss in large parts of the jaw and some vertical bone loss at the molar teeth. Furthermore, 92.2% of sites exhibited bleeding on probing and 41.9% of the sites had a probing depth of ≥7 mm.

At the time of obtaining the medical history of the patient, we understood the patient's strong distrust of dental treatment; we asked patient characteristics and carefully recorded her past history of dental treatments. For patient education, we undertook periodontal treatment not only for her, but for her family, which made her reflect on the cause of her disease and contributed to her oral self-care progress.

We also performed scaling and root planing (SRP) for her using hand scalers to remove subgingival infection. We undertook several sessions of SRP and after confirming that her gingival condition was stable, we shifted her to supportive periodontal therapy (SPT). After three years, her condition remains stable and clinical examination revealed bleeding on probing at 1.8% of sites, with a probing depth of ≥4 mm at 4.8% of sites.