PERIODONTAL PROBING

For decades, probing clinical pocket depth and attachment level have b een recognized as the dentist's most important tools in diagnosing per iodontal health and disease. They are physical methods to measure the distance from the bottom of a pocket to a reference line, usually the gingival margin or the cemento-enamel junction. Probing accuracy and p recision are affected by factors like the design of the probe, probing force, probe position, pocket depth, or tissue inflammation. Recently , several new electronic periodontal probes have been developed. They feature high instrument precision, allowing for measurements to the ne arest tenth of a millimeter They control for probing force and permit data to be collected and stored electronically. The purpose of this re view paper is to summarize various aspects of periodontal probing. Fir st, the history of periodontal probes will be briefly recollected, and interesting and significant inventions of the past and the present em phasized. Then, the importance of the periodontal tissues relative to probe tip penetration will be reviewed; and the probing performance wi ll be discussed. The paper will conclude with notes on selected statis tical issues.