Research progress on periodontal initial therapy for improving patient comfort

Periodontal initial therapy is essential for patients with periodontal diseases. Supragingival scaling, subgingival scaling and root planning are commonly used at this stage. But the conventional treatments often cause pain, sensitivity and other adverse feelings to patients. Then it will affect the patient compliance. Ultimately it can influence the prognosis of periodontal diseases. In recent years, some new technologies have been found to have certain advantages in pain control and relief of patients′ negative emotions, such as nitrous oxide, local anesthesia, desensitizing agents, laser technology, air-polishing technology, and immersive VR. These technologies are increasingly widely used in clinical manipulation. Methods to improve patient comfort during periodontal initial therapy will be reviewed in the article. Key words: Dental scaling; Patient comfort; Nitrous oxide; Lasers; Dental polishing