BY DR.

SANIA RIAZ
BDS
 Toothmobility is defined as “degree of
looseness of a
tooth due to lack of attachment and diminished
supportive apparatus.”
 Mobility can be classified into two types

 Physiological
 Pathological
 Itrefers to moderate force exerted on the
crown of a tooth, which is surrounded by a
healthy and intact periodontium.

 Teeth have a slight degree of physiologic

mobility that varies for different teeth and
at different times of day (greatest in the
morning) .
 Increases in the morning

 Greater in children than in adults

 Increases during pregnancy.

Tooth mobility occurs in two stages when
occlusion forces are applied:

 Intrasocket stage: associated with

viscoelastic distortion of the ligament

 Secondary stage: associated with

deformation of alveolar bone
 When forces are discontinued, teeth return to
their original position in two stages:

 Immediate springlike elastic recoil

 Slow asymptomatic recovery movement.
 When the mobility exceeds the limits of
normal mobility values, it is known as
pathological tooth mobility.
 Bone loss

 Trauma from occlusion leading to resorption

of the cortical bone and reduced support.

 Unresolved inflammation

 Pathological processes of the jaws.

 Mobility is primarily in a horizontal direction
( faciolingually).

 Miller’sclassification:
GRADE 1: slight movement (acceptable)
<1 mm (horizontal)
GRADE 2: moderately more than normal
>1 mm (horizontal)
GRADE 3: severe mobility in both lateral and
vertical displacement.
>1 mm (horizontal and vertical)
Mobility is graded clinically by holding the
tooth firmly between the handles of two
metallic instruments or with one metallic
instrument and one finger.
 Scaling
The space that exists between the gums and
the tooth is probably populated with lots of
bacterial plaque, that being the reason why the
gums keep growing apart from the tooth. A
single cleaning session will remove all that
plaque, allowing the gums to adhere to the
tooth and the bone tissue to heal.
 Regeneration technique
 Splinting (incase of trauma)
 Extraction