Tooth loss in periodontally compromised patients: Retrospective long-term results 10 years after active periodontal therapy - tooth-related outcomes.

BACKGROUND

Estimating prognosis of periodontally affected teeth at the beginning of supportive periodontal care (SPC) is an important component for further treatment planning. This study aimed to evaluate tooth loss (TL) during 10 years of SPC in periodontally compromised patients and to identify tooth-related factors affecting TL.

METHODS

Patients were re-examined 120 ± 12 months after accomplishment of active periodontal therapy. TL was defined as primary outcome variable and tooth-related factors (abutment status, furcation involvement [FI], tooth mobility, mean periodontal probing depth [PD], and clinical attachment level [CAL] at beginning of SPC, and initial bone loss [BL]) were estimated based on an adjusted regression analyses model.

RESULTS

Ninety-seven patients (51 females and 46 males; mean age, 65.3 ± 11 years) lost 119 of 2,323 teeth (overall TL [OTL]: 0.12 teeth/patient/y) during 10 years of SPC. Forty of these teeth (33.6%) were lost for periodontal reasons (TLP; 0.04 teeth/patient/y). Significantly more teeth were lost due to other reasons (P <0.0001). TLP (OTL) only occurred in 5.9% (14.7%) of all teeth, when BL was at least 80%. Use as abutment tooth, FI degree III, tooth mobility degrees I and II, mean PD, and CAL positively correlated with OTL (P <0.05). For TLP, FI and tooth mobility degree III as well as mean CAL were identified as tooth-related prognostic factors (P <0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

During 10 years of SPC, most of the teeth (93.4%) of periodontally compromised patients were retained, showing the positive effect of a well-established treatment concept. Well-known tooth-related prognostic factors were confirmed.