Abstract
Background and Objectives: The maintenance phase of periodontal treatment is a part of therapy that starts immediately after the active treatment of gingivitis and periodontits. The aim of this study was to evaluate the compliance of patients in our society with maintencnce recalls and also determine the correlation between the compliance and some variables such as gender, age, occupation and type of therapy.
Materials and Methods: In a retrospective study, we studied the medical files of 700 patients in two private periodontal offices, and the required information recorded on the forms prepared for this study. In these forms, patients were classified by age, sex, occupation and type of therapy and their compliance with supportive periodontal treatment (SPT).
Results: In general, 3.4% out of the patients had complete compliance, 7.3% had fair compliance, 53.3% had sporadic compliance and 36% of the patients never return for SPT. There was a significant relationship between the compliance with gender and occupation, but the relationship between the compliance with age and type of therapy was not significant.
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, dentists must emphasize the need for maintenance therapy after the active periodontal treatment to their patients.