Re-treatment profiles during long-term maintenance therapy in a periodontal practice in Norway

Periodontal therapy coupled with active maintenance has been shown to be effective in maintaining periodontal health, however, the question of re-treatment is rarely alluded to in the literature.

To quantify the type and extent of re-treatment in a group of patients who had completed a definitive course of periodontal treatment in a Norwegian specialist periodontal practice. The study also investigated factors associated with the provision of periodontal surgery as a re-treatment modality.

A consecutive group of patients who had comprehensive periodontal treatment, which included periodontal surgery, and were subsequently maintained for between 10 and 17 years were studied.

One hundred and one patients with an average age at reassessment of 59.4 (standard deviation (SD) 9.0) years were studied. The average length of the review period was 13.1 (SD 1.9) years. In addition to routine maintenance, 50 patients had further re-treatment and 40 of those who were re-treated had periodontal surgery in the study period. Logistic regression showed that independent predictors of surgical re-treatment, with the effects adjusted for other variables in the model, were uncertain or poor prognosis at baseline, erratic or poor post baseline compliance and a family history of periodontal disease.

Considerable amounts of re-treatment, including in many cases extensive non-surgical treatment or periodontal surgery, were provided for patients who had surgical periodontal treatment and were subsequently maintained for least 10 years in a specialist periodontal practice.