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Probing pressure, a highly undervalued unit of measure in periodontal probing: a systematic review on its effect on probing pocket depth
Author(s) -
Larsen Christian,
Barendregt Dick S.,
Slot Dagmar E.,
Van der Velden Ubele,
Van der Weijden Fridus
Publication year - 2009
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 - 10.1111/j.1600-051x.2009.01383.x
Subject(s) - medicine , dentistry , gingival and periodontal pocket , periodontal disease
Aim: To investigate the influence of probing pressure on the probing pocket depth (PPD) in diseased and healthy periodontal tissue conditions through a systematic review. In addition, to facilitate comparison of the study outcomes, an attempt was made to provide a correction factor that compensates for the different probing pressures used. Material and Methods: The MEDLINE‐PubMed and Cochrane Central Register of controlled trails (Central) were searched up to June 2008 to indentify appropriate studies. Results: The search yielded 3032 titles and abstracts. In total, five papers fulfilled the eligibility criteria. These studies provided data with probing pressures ranging from 51 to 995 N/cm 2 . For the evaluation of the results a distribution was made between diseased and healthy/treated sites. The incremental change in PPD in healthy/treated sites decreased as the pressure increased above 398 N/cm 2 . In diseased sites, this phenomenon was already present at pressures above 100 N/cm 2 . At healthy/treated sites, a mean increase of PPD of 0.002 mm per increase of 1 N/cm 2 in probing pressure could be calculated whereas at diseased sites this value amounted to 0.004 mm. Conclusion: The results show that with increasing probing pressure, the PPD increases. The dimensions of the increase are dependent on the periodontal tissue conditions.