This website presents NICE-accredited guidance from the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) which is relevant to the periodontal care of all patients, including those who are healthy, those who have a diagnosis of gingivitis or those who have a diagnosis of periodontitis. 

Prevention and Treatment of Periodontal Diseases in Primary Care is based on guidance from the British Society of Periodontology, the Delivering Better Oral Health toolkit and other relevant evidence and brings together advice on disease classification and periodontal treatment within one resource.  

Key messages

• While people vary in their susceptibility, the main cause of periodontal diseases is the presence of dental plaque
• Gingivitis is reversible with improved self-care 
• Damage to the periodontal tissues caused by periodontitis is irreversible but the disease can be stabilised. 
• Self-care is crucial for the prevention and management of periodontal diseases
• Risk assessment and formal diagnosis helps enable the provision of individualised care for each patient

Following the prevention and treatment strategies presented in this guidance will enable the dental team to identify those patients at risk of developing periodontal diseases, ideally at an early stage and to provide appropriate care to improve the patient’s oral, and in some cases general, health.

For a list of the main changes in the second edition of this guidance, see Introduction.

The recommendations and clinical advice in this guidance supports dental professionals to provide care efficiently, reduce waste of resources and effort and thereby contribute to lessening their carbon footprint.

'Supporting safe, effective, sustainable, person-centred prevention and care'