Study evaluates long-term outcomes of periodontal treatment

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 6 August 2025

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HELSINKI, Finland: The prevalence of adult periodontitis continues to pose a major global public health challenge, highlighting the need for evidence on the effectiveness of periodontal treatment. According to the Finnish Health 2011 survey, 74% of adults had gingivitis, 64% had periodontitis and 21% had severe disease. Since these figures showed no improvement compared with those recorded in 2000, researchers at the University of Helsinki undertook a follow-up study to better understand how periodontal health evolves after treatment.

The study drew on data from 16,040 adults who underwent oral health examinations at Helsinki public dental clinics in 2009, and follow-up examinations were conducted between 2010 and 2015. Periodontal health was assessed using the Community Periodontal Index (CPI), applied to both the full mouth and six sextants. The researchers categorised changes in each sextant as having improved, remained the same or worsened between the baseline and follow-up visits.

The findings showed that only 4.6% of the participants had good periodontal health, whereas 24% presented with deep periodontal pockets. The most common condition present at both the baseline and follow-up examinations was the presence of calculus. Improvements in periodontal status varied by sextant, and the most favourable outcomes were observed in the maxillary anterior. Fifty-six per cent of the patients demonstrated improvement in at least one sextant, and 7% experienced improvement across all sextants. Patients with the highest CPI score had undergone more tooth extractions than those with lower scores, highlighting the impact of disease severity on treatment interventions.

Overall, periodontal treatment delivered by an oral healthcare team was associated with improved CPI scores across most sextants. The study found no significant interaction between treatment outcomes and chronic disease in general; however, poorer results were observed among patients with diabetes or severe mental disorders.

“Our results suggest that individuals with diabetes or severe mental disorders need different treatment pathways than those without these diseases, and men in particular should be supported to receive periodontal therapy as appropriate,” the authors wrote.

They concluded that undergoing periodontal treatment after an oral health examination leads to measurable improvements in periodontal health, especially when a greater number of treatment visits are completed. They further argued that their findings support the importance of the dentist informing all patients with signs of periodontal disease about the benefits of periodontal treatment, follow-up examinations and supportive periodontal therapy.

The study, titled “Effects of periodontal treatment on periodontal status in Finland: a register-based study”, was published on 18 March 2025 in Acta Odontologica Scandinavica.