Photodynamic therapy of persistent pockets in maintenance patients—a clinical study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the short-term performance of a session of single photodynamic therapy (PDT) and of a conventional ultrasonic debridement (UST) in persistent pockets of maintenance patients. In a prospective, randomized, controlled, single-blind clinical study, patients with chronic periodontitis with at least two persistent pockets (>4 mm) were enrolled. They were treated either with UST (n = 29) or PDT (n = 25). Clinical and microbiological examinations were performed at baseline and after 3 months. For UST, the mean probing depth was reduced from 5.3 to 4.5 mm (p = <0.001) and for PDT from 5.3 to 4.7 mm (p < 0.001) with no difference between the two treatment modalities. Microbial counts were significantly reduced about 30% to 40% immediately after debridement but returned to baseline values a 3 months irrespective of treatment. PDT is not superior to conventional mechanical treatment of persistent pockets, but it may be a meaningful therapeutic alternative; the clinical effects were too minor to draw a definitive conclusion.

Effect of Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy as an Adjunct to Nonsurgical Treatment of Deep Periodontal Pockets: A Clinical Study

“…Higher reduction of PD in the SRP + aPDT group at 1 month may have resulted from additional shrinkage in the inflamed pocket wall after reduction in microbial load achieved by PDT. The SRP + aPDT group again had an edge over SRP group at 3 months post treatment follow up, however, this time, the inter-group difference in PD reduction was statistically non-significant in accordance with studies by Chondros et al, 23 Al-Zahrani et al, 30 Polansky et al, 31 and Rühling et al 32 In contrast, various other clinical trials have reported significantly higher reduction of PD in patients receiving aPDT in addition to SRP. 9,33 However, their results cannot be compared with the present study as there were major differences in terms of study design, sample size, and frequency of aPDT application.…”

The Effect of Photodynamic Therapy in the Treatment of Chronic Periodontitis: A Review of Literature

“…17 In a similar study done by Ruhling et al on 25 patients using 636 nm diode laser photo synthesizer phenothiazine chloride, similar results were obtained. 18 Lui et al in 2011 in a clinical trial investigated 24 patients with chronic periodontitis. The patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: group 1-under SRP treatment and group 2-under SRP and PDT treatment (diode laser 940 nm for 3 days).…”

Diode Laser as an Adjunctive to Nonsurgical Periodontal Therapy during Maintenance Phase: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

“…14,15 During maintenance therapy, sites may [16][17][18] Diode laser-assisted periodontal therapy using photodynamic therapy was not superior to conventional mechanical debridement, 19 however photodynamic therapy was shown to be superior in eliminating pockets especially in single rooted teeth maintenance phase as seen by Campos et al 20 In our study, piezoelectric ultrasonic unit (EMS) was used to perform SRP. Chapper et al found that there was no significant difference found in treatment outcomes of ultrasonic scaling alone or ultrasonic scaling followed by hand scaling as the final step.…”