The efficacy of telephone follow-up frequencies on clinical parameters post non-surgical periodontal therapy: a randomized controlled trial

TL;DR

This study found that more frequent phone check-ins after periodontal treatment help maintain better oral health outcomes.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel comparison of different telephone follow-up frequencies in periodontal care.

Findings

High-frequency follow-up significantly reduced probing depth and improved gingival and plaque indices.

Medium and low-frequency groups showed no significant differences in clinical parameters.

Clinical attachment loss remained unchanged across all groups.

Abstract

This randomized controlled trial aimed to investigate the impact of different telephone follow-up frequencies on periodontal clinical parameters after non-surgical periodontal therapy.

Patients with Stage II–IV periodontitis were enrolled and randomly assigned to high-frequency (once every 2 weeks), medium-frequency (once a month), and low-frequency (once in 3 months) follow-up groups. All patients received standard non-surgical periodontal treatment. The full mouth probing depth (PD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), gingival index (GI), and plaque index (PI) were evaluated at baseline, after treatment (T1) and post treatment 3 months (T2).

From T1 to T2, the high-frequency follow-up group had significant reduced in PD (p = 0.03), improved in GI (p = 0.04) and PI (p = 0.03) compared with the medium and low-frequency groups. There was no significant difference in PD, GI, and PI between the medium-frequency group and the low-frequency group. No statistical difference was found in CAL among the three groups.

More frequent telephone follow-up helps maintain and enhance non-surgical periodontal therapy effects.

Figures