THE PREDICTABILITY OF PERIODONTAL TREATMENT AS MEASURED BY TOOTH LOSS- A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Objective: This study evaluated the predictability of periodontal trea tment as measured by tooth loss in 114 patients. Method and materials: The patients were selected for the study if they had been treated for moderate-to-advanced periodontitis and had received continuous period ontal maintenance every 3 to 6 months for 5 years or longer, The patie nts averaged 53 years of age, were equally divided by gender, and were main maintained an average of 12.5 years. Patients were retrospective ly assigned, according to the number of teeth lost following active pe riodontal treatment, to the well-maintained group (96 patients, 0 to 3 teeth lost), downhill group (15 patients, 4 to 9 teeth lost), or extr eme downhill (three patients, 10 to 23 teeth lost) group. Teeth were r etrospectively assigned a questionable or hopeless prognosis. Results: Of the 2,899 teeth present during maintenance care, 378 had a questio nable prognosis because of furcation involvement, and 63 (16.7%) of th ese these teeth were lost. Of the 529 nonfurcated teeth that had a que stionable prognosis, 68 (12.9%) were lost during the maintenance phase of treatment. Ninety-six teeth were given a hopeless prognosis, and 3 2 (33.3%) of these teeth were lost. Surgical treatment of teeth with q uestionable or hopeless prognosis did not improve the retention of the se teeth in the downhill and extreme downhill groups. Conclusion: The prognosis of a periodontally compromised tooth in individual patients is difficult to predict accurately. A hopeless prognosis is more accur ate than a questionable prognosis in predicting tooth loss in these pa tients.