Last updated: 11/24/2009

The gold standard of periodontal treatment is the decrease of attachment loss, which is the decrease in tooth loss due to gingival conditions. Normal immediate results of surgery are short-term pain; some gum shrinkage due to the surgery, which over...

time takes on a more normal shape; and easier success with oral hygiene. Long-term results are equivocal. One study followed 600 patients in a private periodontal practice for more than 15 years. The study found tooth retention was more closely related to the individual case of disease than to the type of surgery performed. In another study, a retrospective chart review of 335 patients who had received non-surgical treatment was conducted. All patients were active cases for 10 years, and 44.8% also had periodontal surgery. The results of the study showed that those who received surgical therapy lost more teeth than those who received nonsurgical treatment. The factor that predicted tooth loss was neither procedure: it was earlier or initial attachment loss.