Patient compliance with maintenance therapy in an Italian periodontal practice

A sample of 414 patients, treated between 1985 and 1988 by an Italian periodontal practice for supportive periodontal therapy, was studied to determine compliance with recommended maintenance programmes. Patients included in the study had attended for supportive periodontal therapy for at least 1 year prior to the close of data collection in 1989. Based on their compliance with the suggested maintenance schedule, patients were classified as complete attending (100% of programmed visits), partial (at least 50% of programmed visits), or insufficient (less than 50% of programmed visits). Only 30% of the initial patient sample was found to be compliant at the end of 1989. Complete compliance decreased as the number of years after active therapy increased, from 38% at 1 year to 20% at 4 years. The % of patients with insufficient compliance increased from 37% to 46% from the 1st to the 2nd year, then remained stable over the following years, indicating that the 1st year represented the critical period when subjects decided whether to follow recommended maintenance therapy. No significant relationships were found between degree of compliance and patient gender, recall schedule or type of treatment procedure performed. However, complete compliant subjects were younger than the other groups (p < 0.03), and compliance increased with the number of surgeries (p < 0.002).