A randomized controlled clinical trial on the clinical and microbiological efficacy of systemic satranidazole in the treatment of chronic periodontitis.

OBJECTIVE

The present clinical trial was designed to investigate the effectiveness of systemic satranidazole (SZ) as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) in the treatment of chronic periodontitis.

METHODS

Sixty-six subjects presenting with at least twelve teeth with probing depth (PD) > or = 4 mm were selected. Thirty-three subjects were randomly assigned to full-mouth SRP + placebo (Group 1) and 33 subjects were assigned to full-mouth SRP + SZ (Group 2). The clinical outcomes evaluated were plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), clinical attachment level (CAL) and PD at baseline, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months. Also, microbial analysis of dental plaque using polymerase chain reaction was done at baseline, 3 and 6 months to estimate the number of sites harboring periodontopathogens.

RESULTS

Sixty subjects were evaluated up to 6 months. At 6 months, Group 2 showed greater mean reduction (3.84 +/- 1.31 mm) in PD as compared to Group 1 (1.42 +/- 1.01 mm; p < 0.05) and there was a greater mean CAL gain (3.22 +/- 1.01 mm) in Group 2 as compared to Group 1 (1.15 +/- 1.49 mm; p < 0.05). These subjects also showed significant reductions in the number of certain periodontopathogens, such as Tannerella forsythia, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans.

CONCLUSION

The systemic use of SZ, when used as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal therapy in subjects with periodontitis, achieves significantly better clinical and microbiological results than scaling and root planing alone.