Objectives: To date there is a paucity of documentation regarding definitions of periodontal health. This review considers the histological and clinical determinants of periodontal health for both intact and reduced periodontium and seeks to propose appropriate definitions according to treatment outcomes.
Importance: Defining periodontal health is can serve as a vital common reference point for assessing disease and determining meaningful treatment outcomes.
Findings: The multifactorial nature of periodontitis is accepted, and it is recognized that restoration of periodontal health will be defined by an individual's response to treatment, taking into account allostatic conditions.
Conclusions: It is proposed that there are 4 levels of periodontal health, depending on the state of the periodontium (structurally and clinically sound or reduced) and the relative treatment outcomes: (1) pristine periodontal health, with a structurally sound and uninflamed periodontium; (2) well-maintained clinical periodontal health, with a structurally and clinically sound (intact) periodontium; (3) periodontal disease stability, with a reduced periodontium, and (4) periodontal disease remission/control, with a reduced periodontium.
Keywords: Clinical health; gingiva; periodontal remission; periodontal stability; pristine health.
© 2018 American Academy of Periodontology and European Federation of Periodontology.