Periodontal maintenance

The main goal of periodontal therapy is to establish an oral environment compatible with periodontal health by the physical disruption of the plaque biofilm and adjunctive chemical means if required. Implicit in this objective is the ongoing requirement of detection and interception of new and recurrent disease, which continues at selected intervals for the life of the dentition after the initial ("active") phase of periodontal treatment. This concept of ongoing periodontal maintenance therapy has been embraced as the mandatory requirement for favourable periodontal outcomes based on institutional clinical trials and in practice-based studies in various parts of the world. This review examines the ramifications of periodontal maintenance therapy based upon a multi-level assessment of logistic issues and risk factors at three levels: (1) The patient level - treatment time; patient attendance compliance; and homecare measures, antiseptics/antibiotics and smoking. (2) The level of the individual tooth - tooth loss; and evaluation of success versus survival. (3) The level of each tooth surface ("site") - probing depth, loss of attachment and bleeding on probing; and changes in clinical attachment levels. In spite of the diversity of studies conducted, there is agreement on the efficacy of periodontal maintenance therapy when compared with studies on untreated populations and in treated cases that were not maintained.