Familial tendency as a determinant of tooth loss during long-term periodontal therapy

Little evidence exists on how familial tendencies affect the long-term success of periodontal therapy. The aim of this study was to compare outcomes for two generations and their control patients treated in the same private practice.

Parents and their children were observed for tooth loss between 1986 and 2017. Matching control groups were identified from the same practice, one for the parent and one for the children group. The control patients had no close family members with a history of periodontal diseases. Both the generations and control groups completed a similar course of periodontal therapy. The matching strategy aimed at making the groups as similar as possible with respect to well-known risk and prognostic factors. The data were analysed by multiple regression where the outcome was the number of teeth lost due to periodontal disease.

A total of 435 patients were identified (148 parents, 154 children and 133 controls). 72 parents and 61 children (133) had more than 5 years follow-up (average 15.5 and 12.9 years, respectively). Balancing tests showed that the matching was successful. 65% of tooth loss was attributable to close family history. The regression showed that the parent generation lost 1.02 more teeth than the controls, while the children lost 0.61 more teeth.

Having close family members with a history of periodontal diseases is a strong prognostic factor affecting the long-term outcome of periodontal therapy.