Perio Workshop 2019 will draw up wide-ranging guideline on periodontal therapy

An EFP-led workshop taking place from November 10 to 12 will bring together 90 experts to develop an evidence-based guideline on periodontal therapy.

The guideline drawn up by Perio Workshop 2019 will provide dentists and other oral-healthcare professionals with precise therapeutic pathways, based on the patient’s diagnosis, and recommendations on specific interventions to treat the disease.

The workshop – held at La Granja de San Ildefonso in Spain – involves 80 experts in periodontology and 10 representatives from relevant scientific societies and organisations in European dentistry: the European Federation of Conservative Dentistry, the European Association of Dental Public Health, the European Society for Endodontology, the European Prosthodontic Association, the Council of European Dentists, the European Dental Hygienists’ Federation, the European Dental Students’ Association, and the Platform for Better Oral Health.

A draft guideline was prepared for the workshop by the eight members of the organizing committee (Mariano Sanz, Maurizio Tonetti, Iain Chapple, Søren Jepsen, Tord Berglundh, Anton Sculean, David Herrera, and Moritz Kebschull), supported by specialists in guideline generation (Ina Kopp, Paul Brocklehurst, Elena Figuero, Ian Needleman, and Jan Wennström).

Fifteen systematic reviews

Perio Workshop 2019 (also known as the XVI European Workshop on Periodontology) will draw up its guideline document based on 15 systematic reviews written by experts in each of the different interventions studied.

The recommendations of Perio Workshop 2019 will be based not only on the scientific evidence behind the different treatments, but also on other important elements: the consistency of this evidence; the clinical relevance of the outcomes; the balance of benefits and harms; ethical, legal and economic considerations; patient preferences; the applicability to the patient target population; and the practicality of routine use.

The clinical-guideline document drawn up by Perio Workshop 2019 will conform to the S3 level of clinical-practice guidelines (the highest level). Both this document and the systematic reviews will be published in 2020 in a special open-access supplement of the EFP’s Journal of Clinical Periodontology.

Guidelines on the treatment of stage IV periodontitis are not included in the work of Perio Workshop 2019 and will be the subject of Perio Workshop 2020, which will take place in November 2020.

“This is the first time the EFP has undertaken a workshop using a clear methodological process to develop an evidence-based clinical guideline,” said Mariano Sanz, chair of Perio Workshop 2020.

“Once this guideline is finally approved and voted by all participants in the workshop, it will be published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, there will be a multi-stage implementation, and the EFP will undertake a dissemination strategy together with a communications campaign to implement these guidelines throughout Europe.”