Periodontists’ Attitudes and Professional Behavior Towards Surgically Facilitated Orthodontic Tooth Movement—A U.S. National Survey

Background: Periodontally accelerated osteogenic orthodontics (PAOO) is a surgical procedure to accelerate orthodontic tooth movement and minimize periodontal complications. This study surveyed U.S. periodontists to assess various aspects of the procedure as regards prevalence, training, and execution. Methods: The authors developed a unique questionnaire, the first national study of this type, housed on the Qualtrics® survey platform, to analyze trends in PAOO training and use. Unique recruitment emails were sent to 3154 members of the American Academy of Periodontology. 449 U.S. periodontists/3154 surveyed (14.2%) responded to this web-based, anonymized survey. IBM statistical software (SPSS V28) was used for data analysis. Results: Among respondents, PAOO training was received during residency (32.7%) and by continuing education (CE) (50.8%), with higher CE (57.3%) by those who did not receive PAOO residency training (p < 0.001). 38.5% of periodontists perform PAOO, and those most likely to perform PAOO had both PAOO residency training and CE, with 78.5% performing 1–5 cases/year. Most (87.7%) received 1–2 PAOO referrals/year from orthodontists or general dentists. Difference