JCP Digest 05 assesses cost-effectiveness of non-surgical treatments for peri-implantitis

A study of the cost-effectiveness of non-surgical treatments for peri-implantitis, a summary of which has been published in JCP Digest05 (2015:42), ranked treatments in terms of value for money but concluded that more evidence was needed to be able to reach firm conclusions.

The study, published in full in the May 2015 edition of the Journal of Clinical Periodontology (JCP), concluded that the treatments which offered best value for money were (in descending order) debridement alone, the use of Air-Flow technology, debridement combined with PerioChip (a biodegradable chip containing chlorhexidine gluconate), and debridement combined with local antibiotics.

But the researchers noted that the study was limited to the German healthcare model, used only a single parameter (probing pocket depth) to measure effectiveness, and used data from an online survey with a very limited number of responders. Moreover, there was considerable “decision uncertainty” because of a lack of robust evidence.

As a result, they concluded that “robust treatment recommendations for peri-implantitis require more comprehensive and patient-centred evidence.” This would appear to be a key priority area for research in order to provide more robust evidence-based guidance for clinicians managing peri-implant diseases.

The original paper, ‘Cost-effectiveness of non-surgical peri-implantitis treatments’, was written by Stefan Listl, Nadine Frühauf, Bettina Dannewitz, Christiane Weis, Yu-Kang Tu, Huei-Ju Chang, and Clovis Faggion Jr.

It was précised for the JCP Digest by postgraduate periodontology students at the Department of Oral Health Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, under the supervision of Marc Quirynen and Wim Teughels.

JCP Digest 05 is available for viewing and download in pdf format from the EFP website. Each edition of the JCP Digest provides a concise summary of a relevant research paper from the JCP. All issues can be accessed here.