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Periodontology

Supportive Periodontal Therapy in One Page

A simple, exam-focused guide to supportive periodontal therapy you can reuse in any case.

Quick Answers

What is supportive periodontal therapy?

Ongoing recall care after active perio treatment to maintain stability, control biofilm, and prevent relapse.

How often should patients be seen?

Recall intervals are risk-based—typically every 3, 4, or 6 months depending on disease and risk factors.

What happens in an SPT visit?

History, full perio review, reinforcement of oral hygiene, supragingival and subgingival debridement, and planning.

What do examiners want to hear?

A structured plan: risk assessment, tailored recall, and a clear checklist for each maintenance visit.

1. Why SPT questions are easy marks

Once active periodontal therapy is complete, long-term success depends on supportive therapy. Exams like ORE, ADC, NBDE/INBDE, MFDS, and NDEB often ask how you will maintain the result—not only how you treat it.

A tidy SPT answer shows you understand periodontitis as a chronic disease that needs lifelong follow-up.

2. One-page SPT framework

Use these five fixed headings

1. Risk assessment – plaque control, smoking, diabetes, history of attachment loss.
2. Recall interval – 3, 4, or 6 months depending on risk.
3. Review at each visit – medical history, symptoms, OH, indices.
4. Professional care – scaling, root surface debridement where needed, polishing.
5. Education & planning – OH reinforcement, risk factor control, next visit.

If you say all five in a structured way, your answer already sounds like a specialist-level SPT plan.

3. Risk-based recall intervals

In exams, keep it simple and risk-based:

  • Low risk: good OH, no bleeding, non-smoker → every 6–12 months.
  • Moderate risk: some bleeding, local factors, former smoker → every 4–6 months.
  • High risk: unstable attachment, smoker, diabetes, poor OH → every 3 months.

Always link the interval to risk, not to a random number.

4. What to do in each SPT visit

SPT visit checklist (exam wording)

1. Update medical and dental history (medications, diabetes control, smoking).
2. Assess OH, plaque index, bleeding on probing, pocket depths at key sites.
3. Identify problem areas – deep pockets, bleeding sites, furcations.
4. Provide tailored OH instruction and motivation.
5. Perform supragingival and, where indicated, subgingival debridement.
6. Reinforce risk factor control – smoking cessation, glycaemic control, regular reviews.
7. Decide whether the interval or treatment need to be adjusted.

Examiners are happy if you mention all these points in calm, short sentences.

5. How to write an exam answer for SPT

Here is a sample structure you can adapt for any perio case:

  • “The patient has completed active periodontal therapy and now requires supportive care.”
  • “I will carry out a risk assessment to decide the recall interval (around 3–6 months).”
  • “At each visit, I will review medical history, plaque control, bleeding and pocket depths.”
  • “I will provide tailored OH instruction, remove plaque and calculus, and treat any recurrent pockets.”
  • “We will reinforce smoking cessation and systemic control and adjust the plan based on stability.”

6. Common mistakes in SPT answers

These are typical weak points you can easily avoid:

  • Mentioning only “scaling and polishing” without risk assessment or planning.
  • Forgetting to say that periodontitis is chronic and needs lifelong maintenance.
  • Not linking recall interval to risk factors.
  • Ignoring patient motivation and education completely.

7. Quick revision routine for SPT

5-minute SPT drill

1. Write the five headings: risk, recall, review, professional care, education.
2. Under each, list 2–3 bullets from memory.
3. Check against your notes or this blog and fill gaps.
4. Repeat tomorrow without looking first.
5. Use the same structure for different cases (smoker, diabetic, implant patient).

With this routine, your SPT answer becomes automatic in OSCEs, vivas, and written papers.

8. How DentAIstudy helps

DentAIstudy can turn complex periodontal cases into short, structured SPT plans tailored for exams.

  • Builds risk-based maintenance schedules for different perio profiles.
  • Generates one-page SPT checklists from long case descriptions.
  • Creates OSCE stems and viva questions focused on maintenance rather than only active therapy.
  • Helps you rehearse clear, repeatable SPT answers in a few minutes per day.

Try Study Builder →

References

  • Carranza FA, Newman MG, Takei H, Klokkevold PR. Carranza’s Clinical Periodontology. 13th ed. Elsevier; 2019.
  • Lang NP, Tonetti MS. Periodontal risk assessment (PRA) for patients in supportive periodontal therapy. Oral Health Prev Dent. 2003;1(1):7–16.
  • Tonetti MS, Greenwell H, Kornman KS. Staging and grading of periodontitis: framework and proposal. J Periodontol. 2018;89(Suppl 1):S159–S172.
  • European Federation of Periodontology. Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Periodontitis. EFP; latest edition.