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Published on: March 7, 2014
A New Method for Volumetric Analysis of Soft-Tissue Changes Using Three-Dimensional Imaging in Patients With
Aleksandar Pupovac1, Davor Kuiš1,2,3, Ivana Mišković2
1Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia.
Aims:
To quantify changes in soft-tissue volume induced by non-surgical periodontal therapy (NSPT) in patients with periodontitis and correlate them with clinical parameters and smoking. A new digital approach is investigated because standard periodontal clinical assessment methods are unable to accurately capture volumetric changes.
Materials And Methods:
Thirty-nine subjects with periodontitis aged 27-70 years (median 48; 51% females; 49% smokers) were included. All subjects underwent clinical examination and intraoral scanning at baseline and 8 weeks after NSPT. Digital models were superimposed, and changes in volume were analysed and correlated with clinical parameters.
Results:
NSPT reduced soft-tissue volume in both smokers and non-smokers (p < 0.001). Non-smokers had a higher median change in volume than smokers (267.4 vs. 210.5 mm3), without statistically significant differences. Periodontal clinical parameters linearly correlated with soft-tissue volume changes. In multiple linear regression, a higher initial proportion of pockets ≥ 5 mm was the only predictor of volume change when the effects of change in plaque score, smoking status, age and sex were controlled for (p = 0.015).
Conclusion:
NSPT resulted in comparable reductions in soft-tissue volume for both smokers and non-smokers, which was confirmed by a new digital approach.
Trial Registration:
ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05719519, 25.01.2023.
