Incidence and treatment of furcation involvements in a Brazilian dental school. Epidemiologic data.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determinate the incidence of these defects and the therapeutic approaches employed in 105 patients attended in a Brazilian dental school. One-hundred five periodontal charts of patients attended at the Dental Clinic of the Unicamp Dental School were examined, in order to find furcation lesions in molar and premolar teeth (upper and/or lower). The results showed that these 105 subjects exhibited 216 teeth with furcation involvements (131 at the upper jaw and 85 at the lower jaw). It represented a percentual score of furcation defects by jaw: 60.6% at the upper jaw and 39.4% at the lower jaw. The incidence of furcation lesions was higher at the first molar in all of the quadrants and the higher incidence of these defects was on the tooth #16 (34%) and the upper buccal furcation defect was the more incident in this sample (28.2%). The predominant type of furcation lesion at the upper jaw was the class I defect (61.5%) and the more prevalent defect in the lower jaw was class I (65.8%). Considering both the archs, the class I defect appeared in 60.2% of the cases, class II´s, 30.1%, and class III´s, 9.7%. The more used therapeutic approach for furcation involvements was scaling and root planing (69.9%). These data suggest that the upper teeth are more affected by furcation lesions than the lower teeth; the furcation lesions are more frequent on the first molar in all of the quadrants; the class I is the more frequent type of furcation lesion; and the more frequently used approach to treat furcation involvement was scaling and root planing.

Keywords

• Furcation involvement. Periodontal therapy. Epidemiology