assistant professor Department of Periodontology and Endodontology, Nagasaki University graduate school of biomedical sciences Nagasaki, Japan
Background and objective: Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (a-PDT) combined with scaling root planing (SRP) is more effective at improving periodontal status than SRP alone. However, the effectiveness of a-PDT combined with irrigation for patients undergoing periodontal maintenance has not been clarified. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a-PDT in the periodontal maintenance phase compared to irrigation. Materials and
Methods: This study was approved by the Nagasaki University Hospital Certified Review Board (CRB19-013). Thirty patients who visited Nagasaki University Hospital for periodontal maintenance from 2019 to 2020 were included in this study. Patients who had multiple sites with bleeding-on-probing (BOP) and periodontal probing depths (PPD) of 4–6 mm in the maintenance phase were treated with a split-mouth design. These sites were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the a-PDT group or the irrigation group. In the irrigation group, the periodontal pockets were simply irrigated using an ultrasonic scaler. In the a-PDT group, the periodontal pockets were irrigated using an ultrasonic scaler, injected with light-sensitive toluidine blue (FotoSan®agent, CMS Dental ApS, Denmark), irradiated with an irradiator, and then once again irrigated using an ultrasonic scaler. After 7 days, the safety and efficacy of a-PDT were assessed.
Results: PPD and BOP significantly improved in the a-PDT group, but not in the irrigation group. No adverse events were observed in any patients.
Conclusion: a-PDT combined with irrigation was effective in improving PPD and BOP in patients undergoing maintenance. a-PDT may be useful as a non-invasive treatment in the maintenance phase.
