Effects of adjunctive treatment of periodontitis with tetracycline and spiramycin

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to compare the efficacy of two antibiotics, spiramycin and tetracycline, with a placebo when used adjunctively with scaling and root planing in the treatment of advanced adult chronic periodontitis. This was a double-blind, parallel, randomized trial with one factor (drug) at three levels. Ninety-six patients (mean age 46 +/- 1) were randomly assigned into one of three groups. All groups were scaled and root planed with each respective group receiving either spiramycin, tetracycline, or a placebo for 2 weeks. Two sites with probing depth of at least 7 mm were evaluated and the following clinical parameters were measured at baseline, 2, 8, 12, and 24 weeks: plaque index, bleeding on probing, crevicular fluid, probing depth, and change in the attachment level. The changes in the subgingival bacteria were monitored also using a differential staining technique. Seventy-nine patients completed the study. At the end of 24 weeks, although all three groups had shown clinical improvement when compared to the baseline data, there were no significant intergroup differences in any of the clinical parameters measured. While the proportion of spirochetes were significantly decreased (P less than 0.05) at 2- and 8-week intervals in both tetracycline and spiramycin groups (26% to 0.04% and 28% to 0.04%, respectively), compared to the placebo group (30% to 7%), only in the spiramycin group was the proportion of spirochetes significantly lower than the placebo group at the 24-week interval (3% and 11%, respectively). At week 24, the proportion of spirochetes in the tetracycline group had rebounded to 7%, which was not significantly different from the placebo group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)