Abstract: Objective To observe if cognitive behavioral intervention could maintain the treatment effect for chronic periodontitis. Methods Eighty five patients with chronic periodontitis were randomly divided into two groups. The controls accepted routine oral hygiene instruction after periodontal initial therapy. The experimental group accepted cognitive behavioral intervention including oral health education. The periodontal clinical index was noted at baseline, 2 months, 4 months and 6 months after periodontal initial therapy. Results The plague index (PLI), bleeding index (BI), probing depth (PD) and attachment loss (AL) of the experimental group were lower than those of the controls at 2 months after treatment, though the difference was not significant. The PLI of the experimental group at 4 months after treatment was significantly lower than that of the controls(1.48±0.29 vs 1.77±0.31, P =0.000). Also, the BI of experiment group was significantly lower that of than the controls (2.41±0.31 vs 2.56±0.23, P=0.013), the PD of experimental group was significantly lower than that of the controls[(3.18±0.25)mm vs (3.38±0.30)mm, P=0.001]. The AL of experimental group was also significantly lower than that of the controls at 4 months after treatment, (2.59±0.21 vs 2.77±0.30, P=0.002). At 6 months after treatment, the PLI、BI、PD and AL of the experiment group were significantly lower than those of the control group. Conclusion The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral intervention on the maintenance of periodontal initial treatment for periodontitis is significant. And it can belong to the category of periodontal maintenance therapy.

Key words: chronic periodontitis, periodontal initial treatment, cognitive behavioral intervention