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Learning root debridement with curettes and power‐driven instruments
Author(s) -
Rühling A.,
König J.,
Rolf H.,
Kocher T.,
Schwahn C.,
Plagmann H. C.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of clinical periodontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.456
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1600-051X
pISSN - 0303-6979
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-051x.2003.00305.x
Subject(s) - debridement (dental) , medicine , reduction (mathematics) , dentistry , mathematics , geometry
Background, aims: In a manikin study we recently assessed how effectively student operators were able to learn scaling with curettes (GRA) and power‐driven instruments (PP). Calculating the debrided root area effectiveness was low in both groups without systematic training or without a motivational program. After 10 weeks (20 h) of training, operators reached a high effectiveness of 84.7% (GRA) and 81.6% (PP). The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the clinical outcome of nonsurgical treatment as performed by these student operators. Methods: In a clinical trial, 19 students trained in the use of Gracey curettes for 10 weeks (=20 h) (GRA10) and Periopolisher ® system for 1 week (=2 h) (PP1), and 20 students trained in the use of Gracey curettes for 1 week (GRA1) and the Periopolisher for 10 weeks (PP10) treated one patient each in a split‐mouth design. At baseline and 6 months, we recorded probing depth (PD), probing attachment level (PAL) and bleeding on probing (BOP) by computer‐assisted probing. Statistical analysis was carried out for moderate (category B) and deep sites (category C). Groups were compared using Student's t ‐tests ( p <0.05). Results: Category B sites showed a PD reduction of 1.2/1.0 mm (GRA10/GRA1) and 1.1 mm (PP10/PP1). PAL gain was 0.5/0.3 mm (GRA10/GRA1) and 0.4/0.2 mm (PP10/PP1). In category C sites, PD reduction was 2.1/2.3 mm (GRA10/GRA1) and 2.0 mm (PP10/PP1) with a PAL gain of 0.6/0.9 mm (GRA10/GRA1) and 0.4 mm (PP10/PP1). BOP was significantly lower in all groups. Conclusion: The results show that student operators who had received a systematical training on manikins and had attained different effectiveness results were able to treat periodontally diseased patients successfully using both Gracey and Periopolisher instruments.