Surgical Vs. Non-surgical Periodontal Treatment - The Role of Psychosocial Factors

Objectives: to explore whether patients who receive surgical treatment for periodontal disease differ from patients who are treated non-surgically in their stress, anxiety, and depression at the day of surgery. In addition, it was investigated whether these two groups of patients differ in their reported pain and oral health-related quality of life two weeks and four weeks after the treatment. Methods: Data were collected from 72 adult dental patients (34 male / 38 female; average age: 54.74 years; range: 19 to 81 years) at a regularly scheduled appointment at which the patient received either non-surgical (N=20) or surgical (N=53) treatment. Well validated scales were used to measure the psychosocial constructs (Perceived Stress Scale; Trait Anxiety Inventory; Center for Epidemiological Study Depression Scale; Michigan Oral Health-related Quality of Life Scale). Results: At the day of treatment, non surgically treated patients reported more stress (2.52 vs. 2.20; p=.018), more anxiety (1.84 vs. 1.57; p=.040), and higher levels of depression (1.50 vs. 1.33; p=.035) compared to surgically treated patients. However, two weeks after the treatment, the surgically treated patients reported to have a higher level of pain during the past week compared to the non-surgically treated patients (2.53 vs. 1.13; p=.10). At a four week follow up phone call, the surgically treated patients reported a significantly lower oral health-related quality of life than the non-surgically treated patients (1.72 vs. 1.24; p=.046). Conclusions: At the day of treatment, the quality of life of surgically treated patients may not be as affected by their treatment as the quality of life of non-surgically treated patients. However, two weeks and four weeks after the treatment, non-surgically treated patients may actually have a better quality of life compared to the surgically treated patients.