ADA standard on digital periodontitis risk assessment available for comment

The American Dental Association Standards Committee on Dental Informatics has approved for circulation and comment proposed ADA Standard No. 1105 for Digital Periodontitis Risk Assessment Resources.

Periodontitis risk is defined as the likelihood of future loss of periodontal tissue support due to periodontitis. Periodontitis risk assessment is a systematic approach to collecting information about patients that identifies their contributory factors for periodontitis to occur or progress. Currently, considerable variation among periodontitis risk assessment resources, in terms of input data, scoring methodologies and reporting formats, limits the ability to compare population periodontitis risk data to measure the effectiveness of therapeutic and preventive interventions that will improve a population's outcomes of care.

This standard provides a standardized format for entry of the major periodontitis risk factors, including pocket depth, radiographic bone loss/bone height, history of scaling, oral hygiene and other factors, into the electronic health record or other health care informatics platforms.

The draft standard is available by calling the ADA toll-free number, ext. 2506, or emailing standards@ada.org . The comment deadline is Sept. 27.

The ADA is accredited by the American National Standards Institute to develop national standards for products and information technology used by dental professionals and consumers. There are currently more than 100 national standards, and more are under development.

For more information on ADA standards,visit ADA.org/dentalstandards .