Periodontal disease

Main article: Dentistry

2021: How to detect early periodontitis

Employees of Perm Polytechnic University and Perm State Medical University describe in an article in the Ural Medical Journal how periodontitis can be detected at the earliest stage. The researchers began with biomechanical modeling on a finite-element model of the lower jaw that included bone tissue of the jaw, periodontal ligament and teeth. Simulating the chewing load on the model, it was possible to find out how the teeth behave when in contact with each other, as well as determine the interaction of the dental root and those tissues that hold the tooth in the jaw^[1].

With a sick periodontal, the teeth begin to shift slightly when loaded. For clinical experiments, 267 patients aged 19 to 38 years were invited, of which 78 people already had chronic mild periodontitis. Ten more people with absolutely healthy teeth and periodontal were a control group.

Experiments have shown that inflammatory-destructive changes in the support tissues of the tooth at the initial stage of periodontitis increase tooth displacement by 1.3-2.6 times and increase contact mechanical stress by 1.1-1.5 times. According to the authors of the work, a significant overload of the "framework" of teeth occurs even with mild periodontitis. Due to mechanical stress, the tooth root is displaced relative to the support tissue. By conventional, routine methods, tooth mobility cannot be identified, and it is simply impossible to determine the onset of periodontitis on the eye. But this can be done using the Periodest M device, which was used in the study.

With early periodontitis, splinting structures can be used - they will ensure a healthy state of the teeth and jaw. But it is necessary to catch the disease at an early stage using modern diagnostic methods and computer design programs.

The work was carried out with the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.

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