N. Claffey et J. Egelberg, CLINICAL INDICATORS OF PROBING ATTACHMENT LOSS FOLLOWING INITIAL PERIODONTAL TREATMENT IN ADVANCED PERIODONTITIS PATIENTS, Journal of clinical periodontology, 22(9), 1995, pp. 690-696
16 advanced periodontitis patients were subjected to initial periodont
al treatment and monitored every 3rd month during 42 months. Clinical
characteristics at baseline and during the 42-month maintenance period
were investigated for their association with probing attachment loss
over the 42-month period, both on a patient level and on a site level.
On a patient level, averaged full-mouth plaque and bleeding on probin
g scores over the maintenance interval showed little association with
probing attachment loss. Little association was also observed for % si
tes with depth greater than or equal to 6 mm at baseline. However, a n
otable relationship was seen for % sites greater than or equal to 6 mm
at 3 months. This finding initiated a separation of the 16 subjects i
nto 2 groups based upon % sites greater than or equal to 6 mm at 3 mon
ths (groups 'high' and 'low'). Site level analyses for these groups sh
owed little association between frequent presence of plaque at the sit
es over the maintenance interval and probing attachment loss. Frequent
bleeding on probing showed limited relationship with attachment loss
for group 'low', but an appreciable association for group 'high', The
findings suggest that advanced periodontitis patients with multiple re
sidual probing depths greater than or equal to 6 mm at re-evaluation r
un a greater risk of developing sites with additional attachment loss
than patients with few such residual depths. For such higher risk pati
ents, bleeding on probing at maintenance examinations may be a useful
indicator of subsequent deterioration at a site level.