THE EFFECT OF A SINGLE APPLICATION OF SUBGINGIVAL ANTIMICROBIAL OR MECHANICAL THERAPY ON THE CLINICAL-PARAMETERS OF JUVENILE PERIODONTITIS

TWENTY-SIX (26) PATIENTS, 18 FEMALE AND 7 MALE, aged 16 to 25 years (m ean age 19.03 +/- 2.2 years) previously diagnosed as suffering from lo calized juvenile periodontitis were randomly assigned to one of the fo llowing treatment groups: 9 patients acted as controls; 8 received sub gingival chlorexidine gel; and 9 had subgingival tetracycline paste ap plication. All treatment modalities resulted in a pronounced improveme nt in PI, GI, and GI-S by 12 weeks (P <0.001). The mean probing depths also decreased, but there were no significant differences found betwe en the three groups. However, when the interproximal sites of the 3 gr oups were examined separately from the buccal and lingual sites, it wa s found that there was a significant (P <0.05) difference between the probing depths, with the control group showing the greatest reduction of 2.58 mm and the chlorhexidine group showing the least reduction of 1.37 mm. It was concluded that a single application of topical subging ival tetracycline did not result in any short-term improvement over th at achieved by standard non-surgical therapy in the clinical parameter s of these localized juvenile periodontitis patients.