The role of maintenance in periodontal disease

There is increasing recognition, made explicit in the new classification for periodontitis, that periodontitis is a lifelong disease that is not ‘cured’ but rather ‘managed’. This paper focuses on how the response to periodontal treatment is ideally measured and how decisions are made as to whether the treatment has been ‘successful’ or not. The roles of both the patient and practitioner in the maintenance of periodontal health for those patients who respond to initial therapy are crucial. Patients not responding to initial, non-surgical periodontal therapy also need to be appropriately managed, as outlined in this paper.