Supportive Periodontal Therapy

Long Term Maintenance – Supportive Periodontal treatment
 

If you have undergone specialist treatment for periodontal disease (gum disease), in order to keep your gum condition stable, you will benefit from having specialised 3-monthly hygiene visits called supportive periodontal therapy (SPT). The optimal frequency to keep your gum disease under control is 3-monthly because you are prone to gum disease. The evidence for 3-monthly appointments is based on many long term scientific clinical studies.

However, these hygiene visits (i.e. SPT visits) must follow a certain protocol which is outlined as follows:

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• Identifying and recording any problem sites
   

• Monitoring and recording bleeding on probing
   

• Therapeutic treatment of these sites (where necessary using local anaesthetic)
   

• Plaque control assessment and scores
   

• Demonstration and modification of home care techniques where needed

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Specific problem areas in your mouth, therefore, need to be addressed at each of these hygiene visits to prevent recurrent disease.