The Importance of Probing

Well, I am sure we all need to learn this lesson at least once. Today I saw a female adult recall patient with excellent oral hygiene. I was in a hurry...like always...and as I was probing it was 323 all across the board. As I was about 3/4 of the way done I was thinking how long probing takes even when the periodontium is completely healthy. The very next depth I got was a 9!! What? Where did THAT come from? Whew, I am glad I kept going when I didn't think there was any reason to probe anymore! The rest of the probe depths were also normal. So we took a PA and noticed the patient had a very narrow, vertical pocket possibly caused by a rogue root canal or a cracked tooth or something. Needless to say I learned a lot and was very glad that I was able to help my patient identify a problem.