Compliance with periodontal maintenance at the University of Pittsburgh: Retrospective analysis of 315 cases

Abstract

Maintenance care is the most important part of periodontal treatment because maintenance - adherence to the schedule of recall dental appointments after treatment - is believed to be the key in preventing the recurrence of periodontal disease. This article is a retrospective analysis of 315 cases from the Department of Periodontics and Preventive Dentistry at the University of Pittsburgh to determine compliance with periodontal maintenance schedules over a two-year period. Following the completion of periodontal surgical treatment, patients were placed on a regimen of maintenance care that included recalls every three months, professional prophylaxis by the hygiene faculty, and repeated instructions in home self-care. Medical records and patient charts of 315 subjects were selected randomly and reviewed in terms of the patient's attending the scheduled recall visit. It was hypothesized that female subjects would show better compliance with the maintenance care regimen than male subjects, as suggested in the literature. Among the 315 subjects, 112 (54 women and 58 men) followed the recommended recall schedule; 30% ultimately returned for the three-month prophylaxis recall visit after the initial periodontal surgical appointment, and thus were considered to have complied with the suggested maintenance program. The investigators failed to reject the stated hypothesis that women would display better compliance than men (p = 0.3).