TY - JOUR
T1 - Applying current European periodontitis clinical practice guidelines is not feasible even for the richest countries in the world
AU - Raittio, Eero
AU - Grytten, Jostein
AU - Lopez, Rodrigo
AU - Blich, Carl Christian
AU - Vettore, Mario Vianna
AU - Baelum, Vibeke
PY - 2025/2
Y1 - 2025/2
N2 - Clinical practice guidelines aim to enhance the quality, equality and consistency of care but often demand more time than is available, rendering adherence impractical and exceeding feasible resources. The 2017 introduction of a new periodontal classification system by the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) and the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) sought to refine clinical and epidemiological practices by serving as the basis for clinical practice guidelines and epidemiological investigations around the world. Following this classification, the EFP recommends supportive periodontal care visits every 3–12 months for all periodontitis cases. Given that in Norway, approximately 72% of the adult population are identified as periodontitis cases under the current AAP/EFP case definition, this poses a significant demand on healthcare resources. We calculated that between 60% and 70% of all estimated available working hours available for adult dental care provided by dentists and dental hygienists in Norway in 2017 would be spent on supportive periodontal care visits alone if the recommendations were to be met. This situation calls for a reevaluation of disease definitions and clinical practice guidelines to ensure they are practical, financially feasible and patient-outcome relevant.
AB - Clinical practice guidelines aim to enhance the quality, equality and consistency of care but often demand more time than is available, rendering adherence impractical and exceeding feasible resources. The 2017 introduction of a new periodontal classification system by the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) and the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) sought to refine clinical and epidemiological practices by serving as the basis for clinical practice guidelines and epidemiological investigations around the world. Following this classification, the EFP recommends supportive periodontal care visits every 3–12 months for all periodontitis cases. Given that in Norway, approximately 72% of the adult population are identified as periodontitis cases under the current AAP/EFP case definition, this poses a significant demand on healthcare resources. We calculated that between 60% and 70% of all estimated available working hours available for adult dental care provided by dentists and dental hygienists in Norway in 2017 would be spent on supportive periodontal care visits alone if the recommendations were to be met. This situation calls for a reevaluation of disease definitions and clinical practice guidelines to ensure they are practical, financially feasible and patient-outcome relevant.
KW - clinical practice guidelines
KW - dental care
KW - epidemiological monitoring
KW - health care economics and organizations
KW - overdiagnosis
KW - periodontitis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85201319967&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/cdoe.13003
DO - 10.1111/cdoe.13003
M3 - Comment/debate/letter to the editor
C2 - 39145430
SN - 0301-5661
VL - 53
SP - 1
EP - 6
JO - Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology
JF - Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology
IS - 1
ER -