Perio Workshop 2019

La Granja, Spain, 10-12 November 2019

The aim of Perio Workshop 2019 was to develop an evidence-based guideline on periodontal therapy to provide dentists and other oral-healthcare professionals with precise therapeutic pathways, based on the patient’s diagnosis, and recommendations on specific interventions to treat the disease.

The workshop – chaired by Mariano Sanz and held at La Granja de San Ildefonso in Spain from November 10 to 12, 2019 – brought together around 90 dental professionals from the EFP, four European scientific societies with a strong professional interest in periodontal care, and four European organisations representing key groups within the dental profession.

The guideline produced by Perio Workshop 2019 (also known as the XVI European Workshop on Periodontology) conformed to the S3 level of clinical-practice guidelines – the highest level. Ahead of the workshop, draft documents were prepared by the eight members of the organising committee (Mariano Sanz, Maurizio Tonetti, Iain Chapple, Søren Jepsen, Tord Berglundh, Anton Sculean, David Herrera, and Moritz Kebschull), supported by specialists in guideline generation (Ina Kopp, Paul Brocklehurst, Elena Figuero, Ian Needleman, and Jan Wennström).

The workshop’s focus was supported by 15 systematic reviews written by experts in each of the different interventions studied. The recommendations of Perio Workshop 2019 were based not only on the scientific evidence behind the different treatments, but also on other important elements: the consistency of this evidence; the clinical relevance of the outcomes; the balance of benefits and harms; ethical, legal and economic considerations; patient preferences, the applicability to the patient target population; and the practicality of routine use.

The clinical-guideline document drawn up by Perio Workshop 2019 and the systematic reviews were published in 2020 in a special open-access supplement of the EFP’s Journal of Clinical Periodontology.

The guideline on the treatment of stage IV periodontitis is not included in the work of Perio Workshop 2019 and was the basis of Perio Workshop 2021.

In addition to the EFP, the societies and organisations participating in Perio Workshop 2019 were: the European Federation of Conservative Dentistry, the European Association of Dental Public Health, the European Society for Endodontology, the European Prosthodontic Association, the Council of European Dentists, the European Dental Hygienists’ Federation, the European Dental Students’ Association, and the Platform for Better Oral Health.