THE EFFECT OF AN ANTISEPTIC MOUTHRINSE ON IMPLANT MAINTENANCE - PLAQUE AND PERI-IMPLANT GINGIVAL TISSUES

THE PURPOSE OF THIS CONTROLLED DOUBLE-BLIND, parallel, randomized clin ical study was to determine the effect of antiseptic mouthrinse on par ameters important to dental implant maintenance. Plaque, peri-implant gingivitis, gingival bleeding, probing depth, and attachment level wer e assessed over a 3-month test period. Twenty healthy adult patients e ach of whom had at least two dental implants, a modified gingival inde x > 1.5, and a modified Quigley-Hein plaque index score > 1.7 were enr olled into the study. After a thorough oral prophylaxis, patients were randomly assigned to either the antiseptic mouthrinse or a 5% hydroal cohol placebo mouthrinse group and instructed to rinse twice daily for 30 seconds with 20 ml of their assigned mouthrinse as an adjunct to t heir usual oral hygiene procedures. The baseline examination included plaque index, gingival index, bleeding index, probing depth measuremen t, and attachment level measurements. The plaque and gingival indices were rescored at 1, 2, and 3 months. Probing depths, attachment levels , and bleeding index were determined again at 3 months only. At the en d of 3 months, the antiseptic mouthrinse group had statistically signi ficant reductions in plaque index, gingival index, and bleeding index compared to the placebo group. There were no significant differences b etween groups in probing depth or attachment level. The results of thi s clinical study indicate that twice daily use of an antiseptic mouthr inse may provide benefits in the maintenance of dental implants.