Periodontal Furcation Lesions: a Survey of Their Detection and Management

Objectives: To explore general dental practitioners’ (GDP) attitude to periodontal Furcation Involvement (FI).
Methods: An online survey focused on diagnosis and management of periodontal FI was circulated to general dental practitioners in 7 different countries.
Results: A total of 395 responses were collected. Nearly a fifth of participants reported rarely or never taking 6-point pocket charts of their patients. A slight majority of participants (65.8%) stated that they had access to a Naber’s probe in their practice. When shown clinical pictures and radiographs of FI, 76.0%, 85.2%, 79.7% and 98.9% of participants respectively correctly diagnosed it. The majority of participants (47.1%) were very-extremely confident in detecting FI, but only 8.9% felt very-extremely confident at treating it. Differences in responses were detected according to country and year of qualification, with a worrying trend towards less interest in periodontal diagnosis and treatment in younger generations. Lack of knowledge of management/referral pathways (reported by 22.8%) and lack of correct equipment were considered the biggest barriers to management of FI. The majority of participants (80.9%) were interested in learning more about FI, ideally face-to face, followed by online tutorials.
Conclusions: Plans need to be put in place to improve general dentists’ knowledge and ability to manage furcation involvement, as this can have a significant public heath impact.