Periodontal maintenance: individual patient responses and discontinuations
Aim
There is a lack of data on long-term impact of different psychological variables on periodontitis. Aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of psychological factors in patients with chronic periodontitis (CP; according to the 1999 Classification of Periodontal Diseases) to explain adherence to or discontinuation of supportive periodontal therapy (SPT) in a university setting.
Results
For both groups we found similar average observation time (NAG/AG: 15.9(8.9)/14.9(10.6)years). There were significant differences in age, critical attitudes, dental fear, and patient participation style between the groups. With the help of exploratory sequential mediation models, we found a significant indirect pathway of the impact of attachment anxiety on discontinuation of treatment mediated through dental fear and number of critical attitudes/complaints.
Conclusion
Considering the limitations, dentists should be aware of personality-related risk-factors such as attachment anxiety as well as their interplay with levels of dental fear and critical attitudes which may influence adherence to SPT.
Trial registration
The clinical trial was retrospectively registered in the DRKS-German Clinical Trials Register ( https://www.drks.de ) with registration DRKS00030092 (26/08/2022).
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