Establishing a Baseline – Current Health Status

The patient’s current, and historic periodontal health and plaque control status serves as a baseline when setting goals. The presence, absence, history, extent and severity of periodontal diseases indicate the need for various therapies. The Oral Risk Assessment (ORA) and Early Intervention System provide a methodology to organize patient “CARE”:

• Collection of relevant medical and dental information, including full mouth probing of depths, full mouth radiographs, and missing teeth

• Assessment and assimilation of the collected information to establish staging and grading of periodontitis

• Recommendation of professional therapies and home care procedures and products

• Evaluation of treatment and healthcare outcomes

Periodontal health goals are set given the current health status of the patient, patient expectations, capabilities and values. Goals and therapies are defined for and with each patient prior to the development of a treatment plan. Patients are informed of the diagnosis of their condition, possible cause(s), therapeutic options and alternatives, susceptibility, risks and prognoses. Goals are set to achieve and maintain the nearest to an ideal state of periodontal health that the limitations and the degree of compliance of the patient will allow.