Prevalence of Lower and Upper Incisor Periodontal Phenotypes and Risk Indicators in French Dental Students: a Bicentric Cross-sectional Study

The determination of the periodontal phenotype is an essential part of the periodontal diagnostic process, which must guide not only treatment but also prognosis (Kim et al. 2020).

This determination is based on the clinical assessment of 3 individual variables: gingival height/thickness and alveolar bone cortical thickness. Although these anatomical characteristics are genetically determined, they are also influenced by numerous acquired, endogenous or exogenous factors that can act at a general and/or local level. The periodontal phenotype is therefore specific to an individual and its 3 components vary over time according to the dental sectors and sites of each individual. For example, the morphology of this phenotype varies according to whether the gingiva is thick or thin, high or reduced, and the bone cortex is thick or thin, with all possible combinations. Clinicians need to know the distribution of these different types of phenotypes, particularly in the aesthetic areas they are concerned with, in order to better identify the most fragile ones in the face of the multiple daily stresses to which the periodontium may be subjected: muscular force, dental plaque, oral hygiene manoeuvres, parafunctionality, dental procedures....

However, studies on the prevalence of the periodontal phenotype are limited and mainly concern Asian, Indian and American populations, with very few studies on European populations. Main objective: To assess the prevalence of periodontal phenotypes in the upper and lower incisors of French subjects, according to tooth type and at the individual level. Secondary objective: Identification of potential risk indicators in relation to the type of periodontal phenotype."