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Subgingival air‐polishing with erythritol during periodontal maintenance
Author(s) -
Müller Nada,
Moëne Raphaël,
Cancela José A.,
Mombelli Andrea
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of clinical periodontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.456
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1600-051X
pISSN - 0303-6979
DOI - 10.1111/jcpe.12289
Subject(s) - erythritol , dentistry , polishing , periodontitis , medicine , gingival and periodontal pocket , materials science , metallurgy , chemistry , food science
Objectives To evaluate repeated subgingival air‐polishing in residual pockets with a new erythritol powder containing 0.3% chlorhexidine. Material and Methods Single‐centre, examiner masked, randomized clinical trial of 12 months with a two‐arm, within‐subject parallel design. Fifty patients in periodontal maintenance were monitored in 3‐month intervals. At months 0, 3, 6 and 9, all sites presenting with a probing depth ( PD ) >4 mm were subject to subgingival air‐polishing (test side) or ultrasonic debridement (control side). The primary endpoint was presence/absence of PD >4 mm after 12 months. Results Totally 6918 sites were monitored at baseline, 457 of them had a PD >4 mm (range 5–9 mm). The number of pockets >4 mm per subject, PD and bleeding on probing were significantly lower at month 12. Differences between test and control were not significant. There was a significant difference in favour of air‐polishing for the perception of pain/discomfort. Differences of frequencies at >1000 and >100,000 cells/ml of six microorganisms between baseline and month 12 were not significant. At month 12, test sites were less frequently positive for A ggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans at >1000 cells/ml than controls, and counts never exceeded 100,000 cells/ml. Conclusions Repeated subgingival air‐polishing reduced the number of pockets >4 mm similar to ultrasonic debridement. It was safe and induced less pain.