Periodontal Probing

Abstract

For decades, probing clinical pocket depth and attachment level have been recognized as the dentist's most important tools in diagnosing periodontal health and disease. They are physical methods to measure the distance from the bottom of a pocket to a reference line, usually the gingival margin or the cemento-enamel junction. Probing accuracy and precision are affected by factors like the design of the probe, probing force, probe position, pocket depth, or tissue inflammation. Recently, several new electronic periodontal probes have been developed. They feature high instrument precision, allowing for measurements to the nearest tenth of a millimeter. They control for probing force and permit data to be collected and stored electronically. The purpose of this review paper is to summarize various aspects of periodontal probing. First, the history of periodontal probes will be briefly recollected, and interesting and significant inventions of the past and the present emphasized. Then, the importance of the periodontal tissues relative to probe tip penetration will be reviewed, and the probing performance will be discussed. The paper will conclude with notes on selected statistical issues.

Reproducibility of Probing Depth Measurements Using a Constant‐Force Electronic Probe: Analysis of Inter‐ and Intraexaminer Variability

“…Our study went further than previously reported work, 6,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] in that we calculated these values of reliability at both the quadrant and the tooth level. We observed similar ranges of values regardless of which measure was assessed.…”

Periodontal Probing: A Review

“…Accuracy may therefore be validated by the following equation: measured value = true value + systemic error (bias) + random error (noise). 35 Hefti (1997) suggested that there were four areas to consider when reducing errors in probing measurement: 36 1 Systemic error 2 Random error 3 Consistency between measurements 4 Improving data quality.…”

Assessment of the Plasma/Serum IgG Test to Screen for Periodontitis

“…Generally, diagnosis of periodontitis is made by the examination of the periodontal condition, such as the prevalence of periodontal pockets, mobility of teeth, degree of tooth loss (Hefti, 1997), and behavioral factors such as smoking (Ryder, 2007). Since periodontitis is a polymicrobial infectious disease (Walker and Sedlacek, 2007), it is recognized that infection with periodontal bacteria leads to humoral immunological responses and elevates the serum IgG antibody levels against pathogens (Murayama et al, 1988).…”