Periodontal Examination Including Periodontal Probing and Tooth Mobility

Periodontal disease can develop anywhere around a tooth; therefore, the entire circumference of the tooth, or teeth, must be probed.

When evaluating tooth mobility, the clinician must remember that movement may be endodontic or periodontal in nature. In the case of periodontal disease, the tooth begins to become mobile and loosens as the attachment apparatus and surrounding bone are destroyed. With an acute endodontic infection, mobility is generally associated with an isolated tooth, but when there is generalized mobility involving multiple teeth, mobility suggests a periodontal origin. The cause may not be determined from periodontal probing alone as both periodontal and endodontic causes may exist simultaneously, or one may be causing the other (e.g., an endodontic infection draining from the apex causing a periodontal pocket and deep probing).