Int J Dent Hyg. 2021 Jul 18. doi: 10.1111/idh.12537. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the clinical efficacy in the short-term resolution of gingivitis of a novel protocol involving full-mouth erythritol-powder air-polishing followed by ultrasonic calculus removal.
METHODS: 41 healthy patients completed the study. Following a split-mouth design, quadrants 1-4 and 2-3 were randomly allocated to receive air-polishing followed by ultrasonic calculus removal (A+US) or traditional full-mouth ultrasonic debridement followed by polishing with a rubber cup and prophylactic paste (US+P). Bleeding on probing (BoP) and Plaque Index (PI) were collected at baseline and 2 and 4 weeks. Moreover, the Residual Plaque Area (RPA), treatment time and patient comfort/satisfaction were evaluated at the end of the treatment.
RESULTS: Both treatments showed a significant reduction of BoP and PI. At 4 weeks A+US seems to reach a statistically significant lower BoP (8.7% [6.9;10.9] vs 11.6%[9.3;14.4], p<0.0001) and PI (10.7% [8.9;13.0] vs 12.3% [10.2;14.9], p= 0.033). Moreover, A+US treatment time lasted on average 9,2% less than US+P (p<0.0001), and was the preferred treatment for a significantly higher number of patients (73.2% vs 17.1%, p= 0.0001).
CONCLUSION: The A+US protocol is suitable for the short-term resolution of plaque-induced gingivitis.
PMID:34275193 | DOI:10.1111/idh.12537
