Diagnostic Approaches of Palatogingival Groove: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Palatogingival Grooves (PGG) constitute developmental anatomical irregularities primarily situated along the palatal aspects of the roots of maxillary incisors. Literature is sparse on diagnostic approaches of PGG. Our study aimed to alleviate clinicians the process of recognizing anomaly. Systematic electronic searches of scientific literature without publication date or language restriction were undertaken in 2023.11.03 research was conducted in PubMed, Willey Online Library, Science Direct and Medline Ovid. Using specific keywords 54 articles with 67 cases were included in our study according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Pre-made Cochrane data extraction templates were used for frequency evaluation, nonparametric Spearman’s, Kendall rank correlation coefficients, Mann-Whitney U Test and Odds ratio was assessed by statistic to evaluate significant correlations. Most quantitively expressed symptoms of PGG included increased tooth mobility, appearance of purulent discharge, sinus tract and periodontal pocket with an average mean of 9,14 ± 2,30 mm along with painful vertical per-cussion. However, statistical assessment showed inverse correlation between in-creased mobility and painful percussion. Furthermore, quantitively, deeper perio-dontal pockets were accompanied by more prominent gingival alterations, however only one opposing significant correlation was noted between the depth of per-iodontal pocket and existence of additional root. Frequency evaluation revealed that IPR was the main diagnostic tool used in majority of cases. Deeper periodontal pocket was assessed by conjunction of two or three tools. CBCT was used most with deeper periodontal pocket averaging 9,75 ± 1,02 mm. In conclusion, quantita-tive data suggest that periodontal pockets averaging 9,14 ± 2,30 mm, I or II-degree mobility, painful percussion and purulent discharge are the main PGG characteristics, with sparce significant correlations between them. IPR was noted as the main roentgenological modality as should be used firstly when suspecting PGG, yet both quantitative and statistical data suggest that CBCT is ought to be used to alleviate the assessment.