Clinical Periodontology for the General Dentist

This course will discuss the contemporary aspects of clinical periodontology for general dentists.  Starting with the patient’s medical history, and the importance of understanding when to move forward with data collection and when a medical consultation is necessary.  Systemic diseases and specific medications which may lead to a medical consultation request will be addressed. 

The importance of the collection of correct periodontal data and charting will be discussed, with an emphasis on the new classification system and interproximal clinical attachment loss (CAL) being a predisposing factor to correctly diagnosing patients. Determination of a periodontal prognosis is essential before the treatment plan is finalized and accepted by the patient.  The factors involved in this process along with the different prognostic classification system will be reviewed.   

Tips and tricks for success in both surgical and non-surgical treatment of periodontal disease will be discussed. Non-surgical treatment will focus on the different approaches using either hand instruments or piezo/Cavitron, which will be demonstrated with videos showing proper adaptation and angulation of instruments.  Surgical treatment will include several exercises and clinical cases to help determine the next best step for patient treatment. Advanced surgical techniques will be demonstrated to treat patients who are periodontally stable and would like to move forward with other needs, such as guided bone regeneration or extraction and ridge preservation, to place implants and restore partially edentulous areas.