Perio Workshop 2025 addresses gingival and acute periodontal conditions

The 21st European Workshop on Periodontology took place in La Granja, Spain, 9-12 November 2025, bringing together leading international experts to develop a clinical practice guideline (CPG) for the management of gingival diseases and acute periodontal conditions.

The workshop, chaired by Professor David Herrera, on behalf of the EFP Workshop Committee, and moderated by Dr Ina Kopp, a world-recognised expert in CPG development, gathered 73 world-class experts from 20 European countries, China and the United States. Participants included periodontists and experts from other fields of dentistry, as well as representatives of relevant stakeholder organisations.

Building on a long-standing EFP tradition of evidence-based consensus, Perio Workshop 2025 followed the successful methodology applied in three previous editions, leading to the development of the S3-level clinical practice guidelines on the treatment of stage I–III periodontitis (published in 2020) of stage IV periodontitis (2022), and on the prevention and treatment of peri-implant diseases (2023).

Discussions took place in working groups, each focusing on a specific group of diseases and conditions:

• Working group 1: On management of dental biofilm-induced gingivitis, focusing on those forms induced only by dental biofilm. Chairs: Maurizio Tonetti and Moritz Kebschull
• Working group 2: On management of dental biofilm-induced gingivitis but considering those presentations mediated by local and systemic risk factors and also gingival enlargement. Chairs: Mariano Sanz and Wim Teughels
• Working group 3: On non-dental biofilm-induced gingivitis, a large group of heterogenous disease and conditions, some of them with important connections with systemic diseases. Chairs: Iain Chapple and Anton Sculean
• Working group 4: On acute periodontal conditions, including periodontal abscesses, necrotising periodontal diseases and endodontic-periodontal lesions. Chairs: David Herrera and Panos Papapanou

The European Workshop on Periodontology is the EFP’s flagship scientific meeting, organised annually by the EFP Workshop Committee. Each edition focuses on a specific topic of major clinical and scientific importance, reviewing and synthesising the latest research through systematic reviews and consensus discussions.

“EFP workshops have established a long tradition of analysing and digesting the best available evidence, to guide professionals to optimal evidence-based periodontal care,” said Prof. Herrera. “With this new workshop, we will develop the fourth clinical practice guideline, covering three important groups of conditions (dental biofilm-induced gingivitis, non-dental biofilm-induced gingival diseases and acute periodontal conditions), completing the picture which started with the previous guidelines. With this, we will cover almost all the diseases and conditions listed in the 2018 classification. Only mucogingival conditions and deformities around teeth and dental implants will be missing and will be the focus of Perio Workshop 2026.”

Reflecting on the workshop, Professor Spyros Vassilopoulos, EFP president, said: “Perio Workshop 2025 continues the EFP’s mission to provide clinicians with rigorous, evidence-based guidance that supports high-quality care. By addressing gingival diseases and acute periodontal conditions, we aim to fill an important gap and offer practical recommendations that can improve patient outcomes in everyday practice.”

The resulting clinical practice guideline from Perio Workshop 2025 is expected to be published in 2026 in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, together with the nine accompanying systematic reviews, specifically commissioned for Perio Workshop 2025, which served as the basis for discussions and developed recommendations of the guideline.