Mechanical Tooth Depuration and Pocket Depth: A Correlative Clinical Study

Background and aims. Previous researches, conducted mostly on extracted teeth, have shown that efficacy of calculus removal decreases with increasing pocket depth, but there is still a lack of clinical studies concerning the correlation between residual calculus and varying pocket depths. The objective of the present clinical study was to assess the efficiency of mechanical tooth depuration by closed approach in terms of pocket depth, tooth type and tooth surface.

Materials and methods. Fifty subjects with chronic periodontitis underwent scaling and root planing by closed approach. After instrumentation, 225 teeth (92 single-rooted and 133 multi-rooted) with pocket depths of 4 mm and 5‒8 mm were evaluated for calculus-positive surfaces by surgical flap elevation. Residual calculus was assigned a score from 1 to 3 based on the distance in mm from CEJ or furcation.

Results. 11.4% of surfaces were calculus-positive. On inter-pocket depth comparison, calculus-positive surfaces were present in both single- and multi-rooted teeth, with no significant differences. Residual calculus score 1 was significantly associated with a pocket depth of 4 mm and scores 2 and 3 with pocket depths 5‒8 mm in overall distribution and for multi-rooted teeth.

Conclusion. During mechanical tooth depuration by closed approach, no significant correlation was found between percentages of calculus-positive surfaces and increasing pocket depth.