Abstract

Clinicians rely mostly on clinical signs of disease and radiographic information to evaluate the periodontal condition of patients before and after initial, nonsurgical periodontal therapy. The results of their evaluations lead to decisions that determine the need for further periodontal therapy, often surgical, and may also provide guidelines for subsequent dental restorative treatment.

Thirteen subjects with moderate to advanced periodontal disease received oral hygiene instruction and one single episode of root planing. Three experienced clinicians made made[sic] independent predictions in individual tooth sites of the outcome of this initial therapy. They identified sites that in their opinion probably would not respond to the therapy and would continue to show attachment loss (questionable sites - prospective evaluations). One year later, they reexamined the patients. Sites that in their opinion probably had continued to deteriorate were now identified (questionable sites - retrospective evaluation).

The finding of areas of agreement between the clinicians in their calls of questionable sites indicates that experienced clinicians apply some common diagnostic ground. For example, 1 patient was consistently given a high proportion of questionable sites by all 3 clinicians. In several other patients all clinicians called out a low number of questionable sites. All clinicians seemed to agree that individual sites with a deep probing depth and sites located in molars and in furcations would react less favorably to the therapy.

The difficulty in periodontal evaluation, on the other hand, was illustrated by the lack of agreement between the clinicians in some areas. The limited degree of commonality between the clinicians in selecting questionable sites may be the most apparent demonstration of these difficulties. At the initial examination only 9.2% of the 551 questionable sites called out by 1 or more of the clinicians were agreed upon to be questionable by all 3 clinicians. At the 12- month examination only 11.5% of the 461 questionable sites called out by 1 or more of the clinicians were agreed upon to be questionable by all 3 clinicians. Thus, it appears that similar difficulties are encountered during both prospective and retrospective evaluation of the effect of initial periodontal therapy.

LLU Discipline

Periodontics

Department

Periodontics

School

Graduate School

First Advisor

Jan Egelberg

Second Advisor

Max Crigger

Third Advisor

Steven Garrett

Fourth Advisor

Robert Kiger

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Level

M.S.

Year Degree Awarded

1984

Date (Title Page)

12-1984

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Periodontal Diseases -- therapy; Periodontal Diseases -- diagnosis

Type

Dissertation

Page Count

2 vii; 37

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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