DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2018.v06i01.008

Pages: 57-64

Azithromycin is an azalide antibiotic, effective against a wide range of oral bacteria including periodontopathic bacteria. Adjunctive use of systemically administered Azithromycin (AZM) along with conventional mechanical therapy has proven to show improvement in periodontal health in many studies. The present study is designed to evaluate the clinical effects of subgingivally delivered 0.5% AZM gel as an adjunct to scaling and root planning (SRP) in chronic periodontitis patients. A randomized clinical trial was conducted where 40 subject were categorized into 2 groups: group A (SRP + subgingivally delivered 0.5% Azithromycin gel) and group B (SRP + placebo gel) and the clinical parameters were recorded at baseline, 1st, 3rd and 6th month which included gingival index (Loe and sillness, 1963), plaque index (Silness and Loe, 1964), probing pocket depth, clinical attachment level. Both the therapies resulted in significant improvement. The gingival index and plaque index showed no difference between groups (p>0.05) whereas the mean probing pocket depth reduction (group A=2.85, group B=2.25) and mean clinical attachment level gain (group A= 2.75, group B=2.20) was statistically significant (p<0.05) from baseline to 6th month in both the groups. The combination of SRP and 0.5% Azithromycin gel was more effective than SRP alone in reducing probing depths and improving the clinical attachment levels.