Clinical efficacy of chlorhexidine gel in treatment of chronic periodontitis

In this research, according to the increasing prevalence of chronic periodontitis and the known side effects of its unsuccessful treatment and the contrariety reports about the effects of chlorhexidine gel and the incomplete researches, we decided to evaluate the clinical effects of chlorhexidine gel in nonsurgical treatment of chronic periodontitis. The use of locally delivered antibacterials containing chlorhexidine was proposed to improve the effectiveness of non-surgical periodontal treatment. Due to the introduction of xanthan-based chlorhexidine gel with the trade name of CHLO-SITE, the present study compared the clinical efficacy of chlorhexidine gel in the non-surgical treatment of chronic periodontitis.
Methods and Materials: In a randomized controlled split-mouth clinical trial, 40 symmetric periodontitis sites were selected and quadrants with pocket depth > 5mm were randomly selected and assigned for case and control sides. These sites were randomized with one receiving scaling and root planning with the injection of placebo gel and the other receiving scaling and root planning with the subgingival injection of chlorhexidine gel each for 2 times with a week interval. The clinical parameters including plaque index (PI (, papillary bleeding index (PBI), pocket depth (PD) and clinical attachment level (CAL) were evaluated at baseline, and after 1 and 3 months. The data were subjected to Mann-whitney U and Friedman tests.
This research has 20 sites in each group. significant improvements were observed in PBI, CAL and PD parameters following both SRP placebo gel and SRP chlorhexidine gel after 1 and 3 months compared to baseline, however, no significant changes were noted regarding PI in two sites underwent two treatment modalities. Furthermore, similar changes were achieved in the sites treated with SRP placebo gel and SRP chlorhexidine gel following 1 and 3 months after the treatment in comparison with baseline in term of 4 clinical parameters with no significant differences.(P>0.05)
According to the study finding, the adjunctive subgingival injection of chlorhexidine gel did not improve clinical parameters significantly as compared to standard treatment modality of moderate-to-severe chronic periodontitis after 1 and 3 months from the baseline.