This document discusses prognosis determination in periodontics. Prognosis is the prediction of disease outcome based on knowledge of risk factors and pathogenesis. It is determined before treatment and based on specific disease information, previous experience, and presence of local and systemic risk factors. Prognosis can be excellent, good, fair, poor, questionable or hopeless depending on factors like bone loss, patient cooperation, and control of etiologic factors. Both overall and individual tooth prognosis are affected by clinical, systemic/environmental, local, and prosthetic/restorative factors. Reevaluation of prognosis after initial therapy can provide a better prediction of treatment success or failure.

1. PROGNOSIS
DR ASIF K
PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF PERIODONTOLOGY
NAVODAYA DENTAL COLLEGE AND HOSPITAL

2. Prognosis is the prediction of the probable
course, duration, and outcome of a disease
based on a general knowledge of the
pathogenesis of the disease and the presence of
risk factors for the disease.
Goodman et al

3. ▶ Made before treatment plan is established
▶ Based on:
▶ Specific information about disease
▶ Previous experience
▶ Confused with risk
▶ Risk : Likelihood that an individual will get a
disease in a specified period

4. DETERMINATION OF PROGNOSIS:
1>Excellent
2>Good
3>Fair
4>Poor
5>Questionable
6>Hopeless
(Mc Guire et al 1991)

5. EXCELLENT
▶ No bone loss
▶ Excellent gingival condition
▶ Good patient cooperation
▶ No systemic / environmental factors

6. GOOD
▶ Adequate remaining bone support
▶ Adequate possibilities to control etiologic
factors and establish a maintainable dentition
▶ Adequate patient cooperation
▶ No systemic / environmental factors or if
present well controlled

7. FAIR
▶Less than adequate remaining bone
support
▶ Some tooth mobility
▶ Grade Ifurcation involvement
▶ Adequate maintenance possible
▶ Acceptable patient cooperation
▶ Limited systemic / environmental factors

8. POOR
▶ Moderate to advanced bone loss
▶ T
ooth mobility
▶ Grade Iand I
Ifurcation involvement
▶ Difficult to maintain areas
▶ Doubtful patient cooperation
▶ Presence of systemic / environmental factors

9. QUESTIONABLE
▶ Advanced bone loss
▶ Grade IIand IIIfurcation involvements
▶ T
ooth mobility
▶ Inaccessible areas
▶ Presence of systemic / environmental factors

10. HOPELESS
▶ Advanced bone loss
▶ Non-maintainable areas
▶ Extractions indicated
▶Uncontrolled systemic / environmental
conditions

11. OVERALL VERSUS INDIVIDUAL TOOTH PROGNOSIS
INDIVIDUAL TOOTH
PROGNOSIS
Determined after the
overall prognosis and is
affected by it.
OVERALL PROGNOSIS
Factors that may
influence the overall
prognosis include
Patient age
Current severity of
disease
Systemic factors
 Smoking
Presence of plaque &
calculus
Patient compliance

12. ▶ Should treatment be undertaken?
▶ Isit likely to succeed?.
▶ When prosthetic replacements are needed, are the
remaining teeth able to support the added burden
of the prosthesis?

13. Overall
Clinical
Factors
Systemic/
Environmental
Factors
Local Factors Prosthetic/
Restorative
Factors
Patient age
Disease
severity
Plaque
control
Patient
compliance
Smoking
Systemic
disease/conditio
n
Genetic factors
Stress
- Plaque/calculus
- Subgingival restorations
- Anatomic factors:
Short, tapered roots
Cervical enamel
projections
Enamel pearls
Bifurcation ridges
Root concavities
Developmental grooves
Root proximity
Furcation involvement
- Tooth mobility
Abutment
selection
Caries
Nonvital teeth
Root resorption

14. OVERALL
CLINICAL
FACTORS

15. 1.PATIENT AGE
▶ Comparable CT attachment and alveolar bone –
prognosis better for older
▶ Younger patient –shorter time –more periodontal
destruction

16. 2. DISEASE SEVERITY
Determination of :
▶ Pocket depth
▶ Level of attachment
▶ Degree of bone loss
▶ T
ype of bony defect

17. ▶ Prognosis for horizontal bone loss depends
on the height of the existing bone.
▶ Angular defects - if the contour of the
existing bone & the number of osseous
walls are favorable, there is an excellent
chance that therapy could regenerate
bone to approximately the level of the
alveolar crest.

18. ▶ When greater bone loss has occurred on one surface
of a tooth, the bone height on the less involved
surfaces should be taken into consideration when
determining the prognosis.

19. 3. PLAQUE CONTROL
▶ Bacterial plaque - primary etiologic factor
associated with periodontal disease.
▶ Effective removal of plaque on a daily basis by
patient.

20. 4. PATIENT COMPLIANCE &
COOPERATION
▶ Refuse to accept the patient for treatment
▶ Extract teeth with hopeless or poor prognosis and
perform scaling and root planing on remaining
teeth

21. SYSTEMIC/
ENVIRONMENTA
L FACTORS

22. 1.SMOKING
▶Direct relationship - smoking and the
prevalence and incidence of periodontitis
▶Affects severity
▶Affects healing
▶Slight to moderate periodontitis - fair to
poor
▶Severe periodontitis - poor to hopeless

23. 2. SYSTEMIC
DISEASE/
CONDITION
▶ Prevalence and severity of periodontitis -
significantly higher - type Iand I
Idiabetes
▶ Prognosis dependent on patient compliance
relative to both dental and medical status
▶ Well controlled patients - slight to moderate
periodontitis - good prognosis

24. 4. GENETIC FACTORS
▶ Genetic polymorphism in IL
-1 genes resulting in
overproduction of IL
-1 - associated with significant
increase in risk for severe, generalized, chronic
periodontitis.
▶ Genetic factors also influence serum I
gG2 antibody
titers and the expression of Fc-RII receptors on the
neutrophil - significant in aggressive periodontitis.

25. ▶ Identification of genetic factors can lead to
treatment alterations – adjunctive antibiotic
therapy & frequent maintenance visits.

26. LOCAL FACTORS

27. 1.PLAQUE AND CALCULUS
 Bacterial plaque and calculus - most
important local factor in periodontal
diseases.
▶ Good prognosis- depends on ability of
patient and clinician to remove etiological
factor.

28. 2. SUBGINGIVAL RESTORATIONS
Contribute to
▶ Increased plaque accumulation
▶ Increased inflammation
▶ Increased bone loss
Subgingival margins - poor prognosis.

29. 3.ANATOMIC FACTORS
▶ Short, tapered roots with large crowns, cervical
enamel projections (ceps) and enamel pearls,
intermediate bifurcation ridges, root concavities,
and developmental grooves - predispose
periodontium to disease
▶ Teeth with short, tapered roots and relatively
large crown –Poor prognosis

30. ⚫CEPs are flat, ectopic extensions of enamel extending
beyond the normal contours of the cementoenamel
junction.
⚫Enamel pearls are larger, round deposits of enamel
that can be located in furcations or other areas on the
root surface
Developmental grooves – create accessibility problems
plaque-retentive area - difficult to instrument

31. ▶ Root concavities exposed through loss of
attachment can vary from shallow flutings to deep
depressions. They appear more marked on maxillary
first premolars, the mesiobuccal root of the maxillary
first molar.
▶ Although these concavities increase the attachment
area and produce a root shape that may be more
resistant to torquing forces but they are inaccessible
to clean.

32. 4.TOOTH MOBILITY
Principal causes-
▶ Loss of alveolar bone
in the
▶ Inflammatory changes
periodontal ligament
▶ Trauma from occlusion.
▶ stabilization by use of splinting
the
tooth
- beneficial impact on
overall and individual
prognosis.
Correctable
Non correctable

33. Prosthetic/Restorative
Factors

34. The overall prognosis requires a general consideration of
bone levels and attachment levels to establish whether
enough teeth can be saved either to provide a functional and
aesthetic dentition or to serve as abutments for a useful
prosthetic replacement of the missing teeth.

35. The overall prognosis and the prognosis for individual
teeth overlap because the prognosis for key individual
teeth may affect the overall prognosis for prosthetic
rehabilitation.

36. When few teeth remain, the prosthodontic needs become
more important, and sometimes periodontally treatable
teeth may have to be extracted if they are not compatible
with the design of the prosthesis.

37. Caries, Non-vital Teeth & Root Resorption.
▶ For teeth mutilated by extensive caries, the feasibility
of adequate restoration and endodontic therapy should
be considered before undertaking periodontal
treatment.
▶ Extensive idiopathic root resorption or root resorption
that has occurred as a result of orthodontic therapy,
risks the stability of teeth and adversely affects the
response to periodontal treatment.

38. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
DIAGNOSISAND PROGNOSIS
Factors such as patient age, severity of
disease, genetic susceptibility, and presence of
systemic disease are important in developing
both diagnosis as well as prognosis.

39. PROGNOSIS FOR PATIENTSWITH GINGIVAL
DISEASE
▶ Reversible
▶ Prognosis - good provided all local irritants are
eliminated & patient cooperates by maintaining
good oral hygeine.
I. DENTAL PLAQUE INDUCED GINGIVAL DISEASES

40. The inflammatory response to bacterial plaque can be
influenced by systemic factors, such as endocrine
related changes associated with puberty, pregnancy
and diabetes.
Long term prognosis depends - control of bacterial
plaque along with correction of the systemic factors.
b) Plaque induced gingival diseases modified
by systemic factors

41. •Drug induced gingival enlargement often seen
with phenytoin, cyclosporin, nifedipine and in oral
contraceptive associated gingivitis.
•Plaque control alone does not prevent the
development of lesions, and surgical intervention is
usually necessary to correct the alteration of gingival
contours.
c) Plaque induced gingival disease
modified by medications

42. d) Gingival diseases modified by
malnutrition
▶ Exception -vitamin C deficiency (gingival
inflammation and bleeding on probing independent
of plaque levels present)
▶ Prognosis of these patients depend upon the
severity and duration of the deficiency and on the
likelihood of reversing the deficiency through dietary
supplements.

43. II.Non plaque induced
gingival lesions
▶ Seen in patients with a variety of bacterial, fungal
and viral infections.
▶ Dermatologic lichen planus,
pemphigoid,
disorders such as
pemphigus vulgaris, erythema
multiforme, and lupus erythematosus can also
manifest in oral cavity as atypical gingivitis.
▶ Allergic, toxic, and foreign body reactions, as well as
mechanical and thermal trauma, can result in
gingival lesions.

44. PROGNOSISOF PATIENTS
WITH PERIODONTITIS
Chronic periodontitis
▶ In cases where clinical attachment loss and bone
loss are not very advanced (slight to moderate
periodontitis) - prognosis- good.
▶ The inflammation - controlled through good oral
hygiene and the removal of local plaque retentive
factors.

45. AGGRESSIVE PERIODONTITIS
Poor prognosis
Localized aggressive periodontitis–
▶ Occurs around puberty
▶ Localized to first molars and incisors
▶ Patient exhibits strong serum antibody response to
the infecting agent contributing to localization of
lesions.

46. Diagnosed early - can be treated conservatively with
oral hygiene instruction and systemic antibiotic
therapy - excellent prognosis.
Advanced diseases, prognosis can be good if the
lesions are treated with debridement, local and
systemic antibiotics, and regenerative therapy

47. ▶ Generalized form – fair, poor or questionable
prognosis due to generalized interproximal loss, poor
antibody response and thus poor response to
conventional periodontal therapy.

48. PERIODONTITIS AS A MANIFESTATION
OF SYSTEMIC DISEASES
▶ It can be divided into two categories:
- periodontitis associated with hematologic
disorders such as leukemia and acquired
neutropenia.
- periodontitis associated with genetic disorders
such as familial and cyclic neutropenia, down
syndrome and hypophosphatasia.
▶ Primary etiologic factor - bacterial plaque
▶ Systemic diseases affect the progression of disease
and thus prognosis.

49. NECROTIZING
PERIODONTAL
DISEASES
▶ Necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis(NUG)
▶ Necrotizing ulcerative periodontitis(NUP).
In NUG - primary predisposing factor - bacterial plaque.
Disease - complicated by presence of secondary
factors such as acute psychological stress, tobacco
smoking, poor nutrition leading to immunosuppression.

50.  With control of both bacterial plaque and secondary
factors prognosis (NUG) - good although tissue
destruction is not reversible.
 NUP is similar to that of NUG, except the necrosis extends
from the gingiva into the periodontal ligament and
alveolar bone.
 Many patients presenting with NUP are
immunocompromised through systemic conditions, such
as HIV infection.

51. REEVALUATION OF
PROGNOSIS AFTER PHASE I
THERAPY
inflammatory changes not controlled or
▶ If the
reduced by phase I therapy- overall prognosis -
unfavorable.
▶ In these patients the prognosis can be directly
related to the severity of inflammation.
Reduction in pocket depth and inflammation after
Phase I therapy indicates a favorable response to
treatment and may suggest a better prognosis than
previously assumed.