Tooth Loss During Supportive Periodontal Care (SPC): A Three Decades Retrospective Study in a University Setting
By M. Cyris, P. Bartels, M. Kahl, C. Springer, S. Sälzer, K. Fawzy El‐Sayed, C. E. Dörfer, Li‐Li Zhou, C. Graetz
Originally at onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Summary & scoring by The Bell Brief (Dr. Jennifer Bell) using the Drill-Down Protocol (Drill-Down Score) — not the original publisher.
Why it matters for dental
Periodontal specialists and general dentists managing long-term recall patients should note this 30-year university study showing that tooth loss during supportive periodontal care (SPC) is driven by patient-level risk factors rather than treatment variables, directly affecting maintenance protocols and tooth-retention projections used in treatment planning.
Key points
- Retrospective analysis of 30 years of university periodontal clinic data identifies smoking, diabetes, and initial bone loss severity as the strongest predictors of tooth loss during SPC.
- Annual tooth-loss rates remained low (≈0.05–0.1 teeth/patient/year) when patients attended SPC ≥3 times per year, supporting the value of strict recall compliance.
- Findings allow practices to refine risk-stratified maintenance intervals and to counsel high-risk patients on realistic long-term tooth survival probabilities.
- Study population was limited to a single academic center, so results should be validated against private-practice SPC cohorts before widespread protocol changes.
Who should care
Read the original on Journal of Clinical Periodontology
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