Treatment of tooth mobility in patients with periodontal disease

Tooth mobility is one of the main clinical symptoms of periodontal disease. How to treat tooth mobility, prevent progression of periodontitis, conserve teeth as many as possible, and promote the regeneration of periodontal tissue, are the major problems that periodontitis are working at. When performing initial periodontal therapy, removing periodontal risk factors, eliminating the inflammation and establishing balanced occlusion are done; most of tooth mobility reduces. However, it is difficult for teeth with high level of mobility to recover even after those treatments. It affects mastication, cause secondary occlusal trauma, and aggravate periodontal tissue destruction. Stabilization of tooth mobility can not only reduce occlusal trauma and burden, but also improve their occlusal function to get beneficial functional stimulation, thus promote periodontal repair and healing. So it is the necessary measure in periodontal treatment. The diseased teeth and healthy ones with single or multiple roots are joined together to establish a new masticatory unit by means of splint, forming a fixed multi-root tooth. In this paper, various types of periodontal splints, their clinical applications and features are reviewed.