Evaluation of a bioactive glass alloplast in treating periodontal intrabony defects

THIS STUDY EVALUATED THE USE OF bioactive glass (BG) for repairing/regenera ting periodontal intrabony defects. Fourteen systemically healthy patients participated. Each patient had 2 contralateral sites with greater than or e qual to 6 mm clinical probing depth and radiographic evidence of an intrabo ny defect. One defect was treated with flap debridement plus BG (test) and the other with flap debridement alone (control). Baseline measurements incl uded gingival index (GI), plaque index (PI), position of the free gingival margin (S/FGM), clinical attachment level (CAL), probing depth (PD), and mo bility. At the time of surgery and at surgical reentry (9 to 13 months late r), hard tissue measurements included: stent to defect base, bone crest to defect base, and defect width at the bone crest. One-way repeated ANOVA was used to analyze the treatment effect. Friedman's lest was used to detect a ny significant changes of GI, PI and mobility at different time periods (ba seline, 3 months, 6 months, and reentry). For multivariate analysis, the ra ndom coefficients mixed effect model was applied to adjust the intra-correl ation effect. Both treatments resulted in decreased PD and gain of CAL. The se changes were only significant (P < 0.05) for the BG treated sites (PD re duction = 1.24 +/- 0.43 mm, CAL gain = 0.87 +/- 0.38 mm) from baseline. Def ect fill was significant for test (1.1 +/- 0.4 mm) and control (1.4 +/- 0.4 mm) alike (P less than or equal to 0.01). Although BG treated sites had mo re PD reduction and CAL gain than debridement only controls, there were no statistically significant differences between groups for any parameter meas ured. Further studies are required to clarify the beneficial effects, if an y,of BG alloplast in treating periodontal intrabony defects.