Manual and electronic probing of the periodontal attachment level in untreated periodontitis: A systematic review

Silva-Boghossian, Carina M.; Amaral, Cristine S.F.; Maia, Lucianne C.; Luiz, Ronir R.; Colombo, Ana Paula V.

doi:10.1016/j.jdent.2008.04.015

« PreviousJournal of Dentistry
Volume 36, Issue 8 , Pages 651-657, August 2008

Manual and electronic probing of the periodontal attachment level in untreated periodontitis: A systematic review

Carina M. Silva-Boghossian
- Department of Dental Clinic, Division of Graduate Periodontics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Corresponding author at: Rua Barão de Guaratiba, 228 Glória, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Cep 22211-150, Brazil. Tel.: +55 21 25579194; fax: +55 21 25579194.
Cristine S.F. Amaral
- Department of Dental Clinic, Division of Graduate Periodontics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Lucianne C. Maia
- Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Ronir R. Luiz
- Institute of Public Health Studies, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Ana Paula V. Colombo
- Institute of Microbiology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Received 18 February 2008; received in revised form 24 April 2008; accepted 27 April 2008.

Abstract

Objective

A systematic review of clinical trials has been performed to evaluate the reproducibility of manual (MP) and electronic probes (EP) in the measurement of clinical periodontal attachment level (AL) in untreated periodontitis subjects.

Methods

Systematic electronic (PubMed Medline and Latin American and Caribbean Health Science—LILACS literature databases) and hand searches (English, Spanish and Portuguese languages; search terms “periodontitis diagnosis”, “clinical attachment level measurements”, “clinical attachment level detection”, “clinical diagnosis of periodontitis”, “manual probe”, “electronic probe”, “periodontitis or periodontal disease or attachment level or clinical attachment level”) were performed to identify clinical trials involving CAL measurements, MP and EP in untreated periodontitis subjects. Quality and external validity were determined for selected studies.

Results

The initial search identified 37 articles. Ten studies met the initial eligibility, but eight were excluded after thorough analysis. The results from those two selected studies showed that the average variance and the absolute mean difference of CAL measurements for both types of probes cannot be considered different.

Conclusion

“Based on this systematic review, MP and EP probes showed a tendency to have similar reliability in the measurement of CAL in untreated periodontitis subjects when used by a calibrated examiner. However, this finding is not supported by strong evidence.

Keywords: Attachment level, Manual probe, Electronic probe, Periodontal probing