Age-related treatment response following non-surgical periodontal therapy

P>Background To date, no studies have evaluated the effect of patient age on the treatment response following non-surgical periodontal therapy (NSPT). Aim To evaluate the outcomes of NSPT in two cohorts of patients with a substantial age difference. Materials and Methods Two groups of periodontitis patients with a substantial age difference (younger group, Y, and older group, O) were retrospectively selected. The effectiveness of NSPT was assessed by evaluating the changes in the prevalence of sites with different pocket probing depths (PPD) as well as the changes in patient- and site-specific bleeding on probing (BoP) scores. Results Y group comprised 57 patients, mean age: 34.7 +/- 4.4 years, and O group comprised 60 patients, mean age: 58.9 +/- 5.3 years (p < 0.0001). NSPT resulted in a significant improvement of PPD and BoP in both age groups. No statistically significant inter-group differences were observed in the investigated clinical parameters as well as their changes with respect to pre-treatment. However, multiple regression analysis showed a significantly higher risk of showing residual pockets following treatment in group O. Conclusions The results of the present study seem to indicate that age has a limited effect on treatment response following NSPT in periodontitis patients.