The American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) has issued an updated position statement about the scope and objective of periodontal therapy and the procedures that are used in it (Journal of Periodontology, July 2011, Vol. 82:7, pp. 943-949).
Most patients can now retain their dentition over their lifetime with proper treatment, reasonable plaque/biofilm control, and continuing care, according to the AAP. This means the goals of periodontal therapy are to preserve, improve, and maintain the natural dentition, dental implants, periodontium, and peri-implant tissues.
The statement summarizes the essentials of a comprehensive periodontal evaluation, which include extraoral and intraoral examinations to detect nonperiodontal oral disease.
According to the AAP, it is also important to measure probing depths, the width of keratinized tissue, gingival recession, and attachment level; to evaluate the health of the subgingival area with measures such as bleeding on probing and suppuration; to assess clinical furcation status; and to detect endodontic-periodontal lesions, among other measures.
The detailed statement also addresses the following areas:
- Establishing a diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment plan
- Informed consent and patient records
- Treatment procedures
- Evaluation of therapy
- Factors modifying results
- Periodontal maintenance therapy
