AAP Encourages Risk Assessment In Evaluations

The press release below is from the American Academy of Periodontology and could not be more timely. For a few weeks now, I’ve spent time familiarizing myself with PreViser’s Oral Health Assessment tools. The potential to educate your patients using a visual chart and easily communicated language is invaluable. Patients have gotten used to measuring their health in numbers that we’re all familiar with: cholesterol levels, blood pressure, BMI etc. Now you can discuss three more numbers with them: Oral Cancer Risk , Periodontal Risk and Caries, Root and Fracture Risk. I plan to post more on PreViser as I use it more. Do yourself and your practice a favor - look into them.

Statement intended to help dental professionals better manage patients’ oral health

CHICAGO (February 19, 200 – As part of its ongoing commitment to the prevention and treatment of periodontal diseases, The American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) recently released a Statement on Risk Assessment. Published in the February issue of the Journal of Periodontology, the statement is intended to encourage dental professionals to use risk assessment as a key component of all comprehensive dental and periodontal evaluations.

Research has demonstrated that a variety of factors can influence the development, presentation and progression of periodontal disease. These risk factors include smoking, poor oral hygiene, the presence of other disease states, such as diabetes or heart disease, gender, age and number of missing teeth. Assessing the patient’s risk factors allows the dental professional to better predict the likelihood that the patient will develop periodontal disease and can assist in prevention or early identification of the disease.

“It is advantageous for a dental professional to evaluate a patient’s various risk factors for periodontal disease,” explains Dr. Susan Karabin, President of the AAP. “Considering risk factors as part of the treatment planning process allows for proactive management of the patient’s oral health, and can potentially reduce the need for more complex periodontal procedures in the future. The AAP statement hopes to compel more dental professionals to take a full inventory of their patients’ health, especially any applicable risk factors, when determining the best course of treatment.”

While additional research is needed to determine the specific predictive value of individual risk factors on a patient’s periodontal health, preliminary studies have suggested that proactive, targeted treatment may ultimately reduce a patient’s risk for aggressive disease and may reduce overall health care costs.

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