title: Morphological study of proximal root grooves and their influence on periodontal attachment loss.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The etiology of periodontal diseases is multifactorial including both systemic and local causes. Local factors such as grooves on root surfaces contribute a great deal to the causation of periodontal diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Proximal radicular grooves were studied in 150 extracted maxillary and mandibular anterior teeth. Periodontal attachment loss was measured after staining the root surfaces with 0.1% toluidine blue stain. The relationship of the presence and absence of grooves with periodontal attachment loss was also studied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of proximal root grooves was found to be 86.67%. The prevalence of grooves on maxillary teeth was 43.42% and on mandibular teeth was 56.67%. A greater loss of attachment was present on grooved surfaces than on nongrooved surfaces.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proximal radicular grooves present as one of the major etiological factors in periodontal diseases.
authors: Department of Periodontics, Himachal Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors: Saravpreet
authors: S
authors: Kaur
authors: Department of Periodontics, Himachal Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors: Rajan
authors: R
authors: Gupta
authors: Department of Periodontics, Himachal Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors: Parveen
authors: P
authors: Dahiya
authors: Department of Periodontics, Himachal Institute of Dental Sciences, Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors: Mukesh
authors: M
authors: Kumar
keywords: Attachment loss; dental plaque; proximal radicular grooves; root planning; scaling