Teeth extractions on periodontal indications are questionable, Study says

The study is published in the International Dental Journal.

Periodontal disease is a major cause of tooth loss. Few studies have evaluated the residual area of the periodontal ligament in extracted teeth and, to the best of our knowledge, none from Latin America have done so regarding indications for extraction.

Hence, Juliana Maier and associates conducted the present study with the aim to evaluate the residual periodontal ligament (RPL) with respect to indication for extraction in a sample of teeth from a Brazilian Public Health Service district.

All teeth extracted within the Public Health Service district of Santa Maria, Brazil, over a 5-month period were requested for analysis. A total of 414 teeth eligible for measurement were stained and evaluated for RPL using a stereo microscope.

Participating Public Health Service dentists completed a questionnaire detailing demographic variables and indication for each extracted tooth. The percentage of RPL was determined for each tooth. Comparisons of RPL between teeth extracted on periodontal versus other indications were made using the Mann-Whitney test.

The following findings were observed-

4. RPL averaged 34.8% for teeth extracted on periodontal indications versus 79.5% for other teeth (P ≤ 0.001).
5. When considering teeth with an RPL ≥ 30% as possible to maintain, 189 (76%) of the teeth extracted on periodontal indications could have been maintained.
6. When RPL cut-off limits of ≥ 40% or ≥ 50% are applied, 93 (37%) and 43 (17%) teeth, respectively, could have been maintained.

Therefore, the authors concluded that "based strictly on RPL estimates, the present study suggests that a large number of teeth extracted on periodontal indications conceivably could have been maintained."