[Survey of periodontal health in medical college students after 3 years of periodontal health maintenance].

PURPOSE: To observe and evaluate the status of periodontal disease in young people and the effect of intervention to control the development of periodontal diseases. METHODS: One hundred and fifty-three medical college students were randomly divided into group A (receiving interventions) and group B (no interventions). They were followed up for 3 years. The subjects in group A received oral health education, including selection of the toothbrush, the right way to brush teeth, the use of dental floss and interdental brush. At the same time ,they were given initial periodontal treatment according to the actual situation, and received oral health education, periodontal maintenance treatment, and reinforced plaque control every six months. The changes of debris index (DI), calculus index (CI), probing depth (PD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), bleeding on probing (BOP) and gingival index (GI) before and after interventions were compared. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS 6.12 software package. RESULTS: Three years later, CI and DI in group A declined significantly compared to the baseline (P<0.01), but there was no significant changes in group B (P>0.05). There was significant difference in the changes of PD, BOP and GI between group A and B (P<0.01). Significant difference of the change of CAL between group A and B was also found(P<0.05), CAL in group B was significantly higher than that in group A. CONCLUSIONS: There are positive effects of regular periodontal health maintenance and oral health education on periodontal health.

Esthetic management of mucogingival defects after excision of epulis using laterally positioned flaps.

Epulis is a benign hyperplasia of the oral soft tissues. Surgical excision always extends to the periosteum and includes scaling of adjacent teeth to remove any possible irritants. The esthetics of the soft tissues may be compromised, however. This article studies three cases in which an immediate laterally positioned flap (LRF) was used to repair mucogingival defects after epulis biopsies. After 24 months, the color and shape of the surgical areas were healthy and stable, nearly complete root coverage was evident, and no lesions reoccurred. For repairing gingival defects after biopsy, LRF appears to be minimally traumatic while promoting esthetic outcomes.