Original Articles
Shweta Hugar1, Suvarna Patil2,
Abstract
Periodontitis is "an inflammatory disease of the supporting tissues of the teeth caused by specific microorganisms or groups of specific microorganisms, resulting in progressive destruction of the periodontal ligament and alveolar bone with pocket formation, recession, or both." Untreated periodontitis results in progressive attachment loss that may eventually lead to early tooth loss. The aim of our study was to evaluate and compare the efficacy of subgingival application of chlorhexidine varnish and chlorhexidine gel as an adjunct to scaling and root planning in the treatment of mild to moderate(4-6mm) periodontal pockets. Thirty subjects having mild-moderate chronic periodontitis (pockets 4-6 mm) were selected for the study and were divided into 2 groups using a split mouth design. In Group I pockets were treated by SRP followed by chlorhexidine gel application. In Group II pockets were treated by SRP followed by chlorhexidine varnish application. The plaque index, gingival index, probing pocket depth were recorded at baseline and subsequently at 1 week and 4 weeks. The results revealed that both Chlorhexidine gel and chlorhexidine varnish demonstrated statistically significant improvement in all clinical parameters in mild to moderate chronic periodontitis. Although both the groups showed effective results, on intergroup comparison group II showed better results than group I. It can be concluded that chlorhexidine varnish can be considered as the effective method in the treatment of mild to moderate periodontitis.