Glossary

Category: P

  • Periodontal soft tissue

    Nonmineralized periodontal supporting tissue comprising the gingiva and the periodontal ligament (PDL) tissues; usually refers to the gingival tissues.  

  • Periodontal regeneration

    Restoration of lost periodontium, including development of functionally oriented periodontal ligament (PDL), alveolar bone, and gingiva, on the root surface of a previously diseased tooth with de novo formation of cementum.  

  • Periodontal recession

    Marginal soft tissue recession in which the periodontal attachment apparatus (gingiva, periodontal ligament, and alveolar bone) migrates to a point apical to what occurs in a state of health.  

  • Periodontal probe

    Long, thin manual instrument usually blunted at the end and calibrated in millimeters; used to measure the gingival sulcus or pocket depths around a tooth or an oral implant during a periodontal or periimplant clinical diagnostic examination. A fine-caliber probe, calibrated in millimeters, designed and used to measure the depth and extent of the gingival…

  • Periodontal pocket

    A pathologic fissure between a tooth and the crevicular epithelium, and limited at its apex by the junctional epithelium. It is an abnormal apical extension of the gingival crevice caused by migration of the junctional epithelium along the root surface.  

  • Periodontal plastic surgery

    Procedures used to reshape the tissues around the teeth or implants to prevent or correct anatomical, developmental, traumatic, or plaque‐induced defects of the gingiva, alveolar mucosa, or bone.  

  • Periodontal medicine

    The physiological and pathological interplay between the health of the periodontium and the systemic health of the host.  

  • Periodontal maintenance

    Procedures performed at selected intervals to assist the periodontal patient in maintaining oral health.  

  • Periodontal ligament (PDL)

    Specialized fibrous, richly vascular, cellular connective tissue of the periodontium that surrounds the roots of the teeth and is attached to the root cementum, separating it from and attaching it to the alveolar bone. Main functions are to hold a tooth in its socket and to permit tooth mobility and force distribution and absorption by…

  • Periodontal intrabony pocket

    A periodontal pocket distinguished by its extension into an intrabony periodontal defect.