title: Periodontal maintenance--overcoming the barriers.
abstract: Periodontal maintenance therapy is the most important stage of periodontal treatment, yet compliance is low. Overcoming the barriers associated with the low compliance involves a complex set of problems relating to the patient, the clinician and the interactions between them. It is therefore important to create a periodontal maintenance treatment programme which takes into consideration the needs of each individual patient. In addition, regional variations and differences in practice profiles are also factors to be accommodated in a maintenance programme.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Good co-operation between the referring dentist and the specialist is required when recommendations are made to the patient regarding maintenance therapy.
authors.forename: Øystein
authors.initials: Ø
authors.lastname: Fardal
mesh_terms: D003777:Dental Prophylaxis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000523:psychology; D010349:Patient Compliance; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists'