Periodontitis: A crash course in the context of the new World Workshop Classification, from diagnosis to treatment and maintenance

Periodontal disease has consistently ranked high among the global burden of diseases. Its diagnosis and management however remain significant challenges. Its classification has perplexed oral health practitioners. For nearly two decades however, the preceding classification of periodontal diseases remained without revision.

It was outdated and difficult to apply in daily dental practice. And so a new World Workshop was tasked in 2017 to address these issues. Published in 2018, the proceedings of this international collaboration among leaders in periodontology introduced radical new changes. This lecture gives a broad overview of these changes and how to apply them in daily practice. The lecture also provides an outline of evidence-based treatment for periodontally compromised patients. To conclude, the topic of periodontal maintenance is also addressed. Each of these are immense subtopics on their own. Hence a “crash course” is given with the intention of answering some of the bigger questions relating to periodontitis, demystifying this disease for the dental practitioner.

Learning objectives:

• Simpler diagnostics for periodontitis today exist to effectively, efficiently classify a patient in everyday practice
• Distribution of patients for management between general practitioners and specialists is somewhat clearer
• The complexity of a patient’s treatment is directly related to their classification
• Following treatment, personalized risk assessment determines the patient’s maintenance program