Clinical and microbiological evaluation of locally delivered tetracycline as an adjunct to scaling and root planing and its comparison to scaling and root planing in patients with chronic periodontitis

Introduction: The accumulation of bacterial biofilm is the main etiological factor of periodontal disease. So scaling and root planing is the mainstay treatment of periodontal therapy. Apart from this, a number of antibiotics like tetracycline, metronidazole, ofloxacin, and chlorhexidine have also been shown to be effective in chronic periodontitis as measured by a decreased pocket depth, attachment level gain, reduction of bleeding on probing and reduction in periodontal pathogens. Aim: The aim of the present study was to clinically and microbiologically evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of controlled release tetracycline fibres as an adjunct to scaling and root planing versus scaling and root planing in the treatment of chronic periodontitis. Material and methods: A total of 25 patients with chronic periodontitis in the age group of 25 to 55 were selected and were randomly divided into test group and control group. The test group included was treated by scaling, root planing and placement of controlled release tetracycline fibers in the periodontal pocket. The control group was treated with only scaling and root planing. The clinical parameters measured were the plaque index and gingival index. The microbial analysis was done for assessment of A. actinomycetemcomitans, P.gingivalis and P.intermedia by anaerobic culture. The clinical measurements were measured at baseline, 30th, 60th, and 90th day while the microbial analysis was done at baseline and on the 90th day. .Results: There was a significant improvement in the clinical parameters as evident from reduction in plaque index and gingival index (p<0.001). The microbial analysis showed significant reduction in prevalence of A.actinomycetemcomitans and P.intermedia though there was no significant reduction in number of P.gingivalis. Conclusion: It can be concluded that tetracycline fibre therapy along with scaling and root planing is more effective than scaling and root planing alone in the treatment of chronic periodontitis.