Update in
Periodontal Disease
and its Treatment

• New non-surgical therapies
  for treatment of early periodontal disease and
  maintenance of recurring severe disease

Recently several new drug or antibiotic-based products have been developed to enhance the effectiveness of periodontal therapy.

See the published abstracts

The traditional method of treating mild periodontal disease is to remove the plaque and tartar from below the gum line - referred to as scaling and root planing.

These products are adjuncts to scaling and root planing, and are placed or injected in to the periodontal pocket, and allow the drug to diffuse in to the pocket over a period of time. These therapies are designed to treat mild, localized periodontal disease, and are not meant to replace the need for surgical correction when the pockets are deep. 

In cases where there is a remaining deep periodontal pocket, typically six millimeters or deeper, scaling alone is not adequate and periodontal surgery is usually recommended.

• We can say this about all the products?
  • effective as an adjunct to conventional treatment for preventing progression to more severe disease
  • effective treatment for mild periodontitis, or recurring severe periodontitis when surgery is not recommended.
  • All these products result in a reduction in gum pocket depth beyond scaling and root planing alone..
  • some products improve a greater percentage of patients than others.
• Products that we have evaluated are listed below.
  At this time we feel that the Periochip is the most effective adjunctive therapy.
  • Periochip (cholorhexidine, and bacteriocidal drug)
  • Atridox (doxycycline antibiotic, a form of tetracycline)
  • Arestin (minocycline antibiotic, a form of tetracycline)
• Abstracts of current articles documenting effectiveness of these therapies
  • 15 month evaluation of minocycline
  • Controlled-release locally delivered minocycline in periodontitis
  • Ease of placement of the chlorhexidine chip
  • Effectiveness of locally delivered chlorhexidine
  • Effects of minocycline-loaded microcapsules in adult periodontitis
  • Local delivery of chlorhexidine, a multi-center study.
  • Minocycline Study
  • Perio Chip
  • PerioChip in periodontal maintenance patients
  • PerioChip in treating adult periodontitis