Photodynamic therapy as an adjunctive treatment for grade C periodontitis in molar teeth: a preliminary trial

BACKGROUND

The present study aimed to evaluate the local effect of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) as adjunctive treatment for grade C periodontitis in molars teeth.

METHODS

Thirty-eight molar teeth from 11 patients were included in this split-mouth randomized clinical trial. The teeth were randomly divided into two groups (n = 19 each) that were submitted to conventional scaling and root planing in addition to aPDT (test group) and to scaling and root planing in addition to aPDT simulation (control group). The following periodontal parameters were obtained prior to treatment (baseline) and at 3 months after the intervention: bleeding on probing, probing depth, gingival recession, clinical attachment level, and furcation level. A 5% significance level was adopted in the statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Both groups exhibited improvement in the clinical parameters (p < 0.001). However, the reductions in bleeding on probing and probing depth were greater in the test group (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the other clinical parameters between groups (p ≥ 0.13).

CONCLUSIONS

Molar teeth treated with aPDT and scaling and root planing showed superior clinical improvement compared to those submitted only to scaling and root planning. Antimicrobial PDT may be used as adjunctive treatment for grade C periodontitis affecting molar teeth since it seems to improve the clinical response to conventional debridement.

Study of Porphyromonas gingivalis in periodontal diseases: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The mouth cavity hosts various types of anaerobic bacteria including Porphyromonas gingivalis, which causes periodontal inflammatory diseases. P. gingivalis is a gram-negative oral anaerobe and is considered as a main etiological factor in periodontal diseases. Several studies have reported a relationship between P. gingivalis in individuals with periodontal diseases and a critical role of this bacterium in the pathogenesis of periodontal diseases. The present study aimed at estimating this probability using a meta-analysis.

Methods: We searched several databases including PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science to identify case-control studies addressing the relationship between P. gingivalis with periodontal diseases. A total of 49 reports published from different countries from 1993 to 2014 were included in this study. I² (heterogeneity index) statistics were calculated to examine heterogeneity. Data were analyzed using STATA Version 11.

Results: After a detailed analysis of the selected articles, 49 case-control studies with 5924 individuals fulfilled the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. The healthy controls included 2600 healthy individuals with a Mean±SD age of 36.56±7.45 years. The periodontal diseases group included 3356 patients with a mean age of 43.62±8.35 years. There was a statistically significant difference between P. gingivalis in periodontal patients and healthy controls; 9.24 (95% CI: 5.78 to 14.77; P = 0.000). In the other word, there was a significant relationship between the presence of P. gingivalis and periodontal diseases.

Conclusion: Analyzing the results of the present study, we found a strong association between the presence of P. gingivalis and periodontal diseases. This result suggests that another research is needed to further assess this subject.

Implant Rehabilitation in Advanced Generalized Aggressive Periodontitis: A Case Report and Literature Review

Dental implants have provided exceptional rehabilitative options for edentulous and partially edentulous patients. However, as more implants come into play, the more the clinicians come across problems where specific considerations must be taken into account to meet expectations. The Toronto Bridge is a treatment modality proposed for restoring several teeth lost in patients with increased crown height (interarch) space. Herein, we applied the Toronto Bridge to rehabilitate a patient with generalized aggressive periodontitis; this article suggests that an implant-supported Toronto Bridge can be a reliable and acceptable treatment modality for patients suffering from tooth loss and vertical bone loss as the result of generalized aggressive periodontal disease.

Cementogenesis in Patients with Localized Aggressive Periodontitis

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to determine the cementum thickness in the first molars of patients with localized aggressive periodontitis (LAP) compared to healthy individuals.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This case-control study compared eight first molar teeth affected by LAP with eight third molar teeth of healthy individuals. The teeth were disinfected by immersion in 10% buffered formalin solution for three days and were then sectioned. External mesial root surfaces (middle one-third) were evaluated under a stereomicroscope by a blinded pathologist to determine the mean thickness of cementum. SPSS software (version 16.0) and t-test were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Histological examination revealed a significant difference between the two groups in terms of the amount of cementogenesis (P<0.001) .The thickness of cementum was higher in the control group (105.16±11.5 μm) than in LAP patients (86.44±7.3 μm).

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated the presence of cementum hypoplasia in mesial root surfaces of first molars affected by LAP.

Comparison of the salivary and the serum nitric oxide levels in chronic and aggressive periodontitis: a biochemical study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Nitric oxide (NO) is a ubiquitous intercellular messenger molecule with important cardiovascular, neurological, and immune functions. In addition, it has been postulated that the pharmacological inhibition of NO or its actions may be therapeutically valuable in the disease management. The levels of nitric oxide may provide clues about the severity and the state of the underlying disease process. It could be an inflammatory biomarker that may enable clinicians to direct the environmentally based prevention or treatment programmes and to establish whether NO plays a role in the pathogenesis of periodontitis or not. Hence, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the salivary and the serum levels of NO in generalized chronic and aggressive periodontitis. The Study Design: Unstimulated whole saliva and serum samples were collected from a total of 60 subjects who were in the age group of 18-45 years, who participated in this study. They were divided into three equal groups with 20 subjects in each group; group A (healthy controls), group B (chronic periodontitis) and group C (aggressive periodontitis). The clinical parameters were assessed, based on the oral hygiene index simplified (OHI-S), the gingival index (GI), the probing pocket depth and the clinical attachment loss (CAL). A biochemical analysis was performed to evaluate and compare the salivary and the serum nitric oxide levels of the above groups. Statistical Analysis and Results: The statistical comparisons were done under the Griess Reaction. There were statistically significant salivary and serum levels of NO in the groups of periodontitis (group B and C) as compared to those in the healthy controls (group A). A significant positive correlation was found between the values of the salivary and the serum NO levels in chronic and aggressive periodontitis.

CONCLUSION

Nitric oxide is a potent modulator of the inflammatory disease processes and under pathological conditions, NO has damaging effects. As there is a paucity in the studies which have compared chronic and aggressive periodontitis, this study paved an interest for combining the serum and the salivary analysis in comparing the levels of nitric oxide in chronic and aggressive periodontitis.

Comparison of 1-periodontal indices and cultural porphyromonas gingivalis colony count in aggressive periodontitis patients treated by scaling and rootplanning with or without metronidazole gel

OBJECTIVE

Systemic antibiotics and locally applied antimicrobial agents have been suggested to enhance clinical parameters. Patients exhibiting aggressive periodontitis in particular benefit from adjunctive antibiotic therapy. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effect of local antibiotic therapy with metronidazole adjunctively to scaling and root planning (SRP) in the treatment of aggressive periodontitis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twenty patients diagnosed with aggressive periodontitis were placed in a spilt mouth design. Microbial specimens were taken from the deepest pocket of the teeth. The sites that had positive results of Porphyromonas gingivalis (P.g) were located randomly to receive SRP treatment in the control group and SRP plus metronidazole gel in the test group. Pocket probing depth (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL) and bleeding on probing (BOP) parameters and numbers of P.g. colony were taken at baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks later. All data were collected and analyzed and tested by Wilcoxon and paired t test.

RESULTS

The case group patients had significantly better results in BOP, PPD and the number of P.g colony count reduction in comparison with the control group (p<0.05). According to the measurements of CAL, the statistical difference was non significant (p>0.05).

CONCLUSION

In non-surgical periodontal treatment of aggressive periodontits adjunctive metronidazole gel therapy has a better effect on the reduction of porphyromonas gingivalis content of pockets.