Biomechanical properties of periodontal tissues in non-periodontitis and periodontitis patients assessed with an intraoral computerized electronic measurement device

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ObjectiveTo identify tooth mobility (TM) by time-dependent tooth displacement using an electronic intra-oral loading device (ILD) in periodontally healthy and periodontally compromised patients.Materials and methodsTwenty-eight untreated periodontitis and 20 periodontally healthy patients [25 female and 26 male; ages: 20–81 years], contributing with 68 teeth (periodontitis: nteeth = 28; non-periodontitis: nteeth = 40), participated in the study. TM was measured in vivo by displacing central or lateral incisors to a maximum of 0.2 mm orally over durations of 0.5 s, 1 s, and 10 s with the ILD. The maximum force (Fmax) was extracted from the measured force/deflection curves for every single measurement.ResultsDifferences in TM-ILD values were found for periodontitis as compared to non-periodontitis patients derived from the same loading durations (differences of 3.9 (0.5 s), 3.1 (1 s), 2.8 (10 s), (95% CI for 0.5 s (1.2–6.7), p = 0.024; 1 s (1.4–6.0), p = 0.067; 10 s (0.2–5.3), p = 0.001), rejecting the null hypothesis of no difference (T-test) for durations of 0.5 and 10 s. There was a significant correlation of TM-ILD (Fmax) with BOP at 0.5 s (– 0.52) and with attachment loss at all time durations (– 0.47 at 0.5 s; – 0.57 at 1 s; – 0.47 at 10 s).ConclusionsThis clinical investigation could demonstrate that time-dependent tooth displacements using a new computerized electronic device were associated with attachment loss and bleeding on probing.Clinical relevanceILD can improve the monitoring of tooth mobility, as TM-ILD values reflect qualitative (inflammatory status interpreted by BOP) and quantitative parameters (interpreted as the amount of CAL loss) of periodontal disease.