Can a patient have periodontal disease if infection is not present?
The simple answer is yes, but that question is loaded. The definition of periodontal disease is measurable attachment loss and infection does not need to be present to have attachment loss. However, 99% of the time there is infection or inflammation present to assist in the attachment loss. Think of the patient with immaculate home care with generalized recession and thin tissue. That patient is contributing to the attachment loss, but the biofilm that is present is more damaging because of the recession and thin tissue present than if the tissue was thick. So technically infection is present. Q: My dad wears an upper Valplast partial and has moderate periodontal disease. He swears he has these episodes where his gums get inflamed, then recede, then back to normal. He says this even happens in the edentulous area (#12-15). Will the bacteria still attack the tissue where there are no teeth? He has excellent home care and of course the edentulous area does not recede, but it gets sore an
