Effect of supportive periodontal therapy on the prevention of tooth loss in Korean adults.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the effect of patient compliance with supportive periodontal therapy (SPT) on tooth loss in Korean adults.


METHODS
The periodontal records of 134 patients were reviewed for this study. They completed active periodontal treatment from 1999 to 2001 and were placed on a schedule of periodic follow-up visits for SPT. Patient compliance was classified into complete compliance (CC), erratic compliance (EC), and noncompliance (NC) groups. Re-examinations were carried out 11.0±0.8 years after the active periodontal treatment. The prognosis for each tooth was determined as good, questionable, or hopeless according to the bone loss observed in pretreatment radiographs.


RESULTS
The rate of tooth loss of the CC group was significantly lower than that of the NC group. The tooth loss/patient and the tooth loss/patient/year were not significantly different between the three groups. The rates of tooth loss in the good, questionable, and hopeless prognosis groups were 6.7%, 9.5%, and 13.2%, respectively. For the teeth with a good prognosis, the rate of tooth loss of the CC group was significantly lower than that of the NC group (0.4% vs. 5.1%). For the teeth with a questionable prognosis, the CC group showed a significantly lower rate of tooth loss than did the EC group (4.1% vs. 30.7%) or the NC group (4.1% vs. 25.6%). For the teeth with a hopeless prognosis, the rates of tooth loss were not significantly different among the three groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Within the limits of this study, the patients who showed a poor compliance with SPT were more likely to lose teeth than were the regularly compliant patients. However, the risk of tooth loss with a hopeless prognosis was high irrespective of the compliance.
Department of Periodontology, Research Institute of Oral Sciences, Gangneung-Wonju National University College of Dentistry, Gangneung, Korea.
Sang-Yul
0000-0003-4445-1586
SY
Kim
Department of Periodontology, Research Institute of Oral Sciences, Gangneung-Wonju National University College of Dentistry, Gangneung, Korea.
Jae-Kwan
0000-0003-1710-1580
JK
Lee
Department of Periodontology, Research Institute of Oral Sciences, Gangneung-Wonju National University College of Dentistry, Gangneung, Korea.
Beom-Seok
0000-0002-5280-3249
BS
Chang
Department of Periodontology, Research Institute of Oral Sciences, Gangneung-Wonju National University College of Dentistry, Gangneung, Korea.
Heung-Sik
0000-0002-7986-1019
HS
Um
Maintenance; Patient compliance; Tooth loss