Efficacy of non-surgical periodontal therapy for decreasing the individual periodontal risk

Abstract

Introduction: Individual periodontal risk assessment may determine the risk of susceptibility to occurrence of future periodontal disease, as well as the risk of recurrence or progression of the disease in patients already suffering from periodontitis. A functional diagram (including 6 risk vectors – bleeding on probing, residual pockets, teeth loss, bone loss/patient’s age, systemic diseases, environmental factors) for determining the periodontal risk at patient level, can help the clinician in determining the frequency of follow-up visits during the maintenance phase of therapy, as well as in motivating the patient during periodontal therapy. Aim: The aim of this article is to show the efficiency of controlling the modifying risk factors during non-surgical periodontal therapy for the reduction of periodontal risk level at the re-evaluation assessment. Material and Methods: The periodontal risk is assessed in 41 individuals (14 males and 27 females) and determined using the functional diagram proposed by Tonetti & Lang (2003). All assessed individuals are divided into 2 groups according to the gender: males and females. Statistical analysis is done with a descriptive analysis using IBM SPSS Statistics version 19 software. Results: The mean risk polygon surface at the initial assessment is 61.5243 for all individuals, and at the re-evaluation is 33.2573. Conclusion: The adequately performed non-surgical periodontal therapy leads to significant decrease in the periodontal risk level in both sexes.