Post‐treatment supportive care for the natural dentition and dental implants

Long‐term successful treatment of chronic periodontitis requires placement of patients on post‐treatment recall programs known as either periodontal maintenance therapy or supportive periodontal therapy. Selection of the recall intervals must be based on the specific needs of individual patients. A single recall interval (e.g. 6 months) is not suitable for all patients. The main purpose of these programs is to prevent the recurrence of periodontitis. The components of every periodontal maintenance therapy program include: review of medical/dental histories; complete oral examination with an emphasis on the detection of gingival inflammation; establishing whether the maintenance program is working by monitoring clinical attachment levels; evaluation of oral hygiene; and full‐mouth supragingival and subgingival debridement (i.e. biofilm removal). Long‐term post‐insertion care for dental implants also requires a similar patient‐specific recall program of supportive implant therapy. The main purposes of a supportive implant therapy program are to maintain a healthy peri‐implant mucosa and thereby prevent the development of peri‐implantitis. In cases in which plaque‐induced peri‐implant mucositis has occurred, a well‐designed supportive implant therapy program can help return the mucosa to a healthy state. At the current time there is no consensus on the optimal interventions for the treatment of peri‐implant mucositis. However, all effective supportive implant therapy programs emphasize meticulous oral hygiene practices, careful peri‐implant examination, thoughtful analysis of risk factors and periodic removal of microbial deposits from the implants.