Impact of Periodontal Therapy on Function and Quality of Life in Stage III Periodontitis.

Background

Stage III, Grade B periodontitis compromises periodontal support, masticatory function, and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). Its functional and patient-reported recovery across sequential periodontal treatment phases remains underexplored.

Objectives

This study evaluated the effects of comprehensive periodontal therapy on clinical parameters, masticatory performance, and OHRQoL.

Methods

Twenty systemically healthy patients with Stage III, Grade B periodontitis and 20 periodontally healthy controls were included in this prospective clinical study. Clinical periodontal parameters, tooth mobility (Periotest), masticatory performance (silicone cube chewing test with sieve analysis), and OHRQoL (OHIP-14) were assessed. Periodontitis patients were evaluated at baseline, after non-surgical therapy, and following surgical treatment. Comparisons with healthy controls used one-way ANOVA, while longitudinal treatment effects were analysed using repeated-measures ANOVA with Geisser-Greenhouse correction and Šídák's multiple-comparisons test. Spearman correlation assessed associations between masticatory performance and OHRQoL.

Results

Patients with periodontitis exhibited significantly worse baseline clinical parameters, masticatory performance, and OHRQoL than controls (p < 0.001). Longitudinally, probing depth and bleeding on probing improved significantly (p < 0.0001), whereas Periotest values remained unchanged (p = 0.964). Masticatory performance improved significantly across treatment phases (p < 0.0001). OHIP-14 scores decreased significantly after therapy, indicating improved quality of life (p < 0.0001). Strong negative correlations were observed between OHIP-14 scores and masticatory performance indices across all treatment phases (ρ = -0.49 to -0.75).

Conclusion

Comprehensive periodontal therapy improves periodontal status, masticatory performance, and OHRQoL in Stage III, Grade B periodontitis. Parallel improvements in objective function and patient-reported outcomes demonstrate the multidimensional benefits of periodontal rehabilitation.