New horizons in periodontics. The challenge for diagnosis.

Contemporary periodontics offers successful treatment for most cases of periodontitis. The data analyzed in this paper suggest, however, that a large percentage of the population in our region suffers from established, overt periodontitis and does not receive periodontal therapy. Guidelines and the sensitivity and specificity of detection, using present-day clinical procedures of periodontal pocket probing and radiograph analysis, are described for the detection of patients with established, overt periodontitis.