New developments in tools for periodontal diagnosis

For decades there has been increasing focus on the development of clinically acceptable, more sensitive and specific methods for the accurate and non-invasive diagnosis and prognosis of periodontitis. There are several well-known inherent drawbacks to current clinical procedures. The purpose of this article is to summarise some of the newly emerging diagnostic approaches, namely: the ultrasonographic probe; cone-beam computed tomography; optical coherence tomography; optical spectroscopy, and proteome analysis.

These novel diagnostic tools complement one another and, together with conventional clinical and radiographic examination, are likely to provide more accurate methods of diagnosing periodontitis. However, these techniques are yet to be clinically validated and their potential interpreted.

For the clinician, the planning of therapy is probably the most critical and difficult step in the treatment of patients with periodontal disease. A new paradigm for periodontal diagnosis will certainly increase understanding of periodontal diseases, which may eventually optimise the predictability of treatment and improve the clinical management of patients with periodontal disease.