Subgingival application of 0.5% Azithromycin gel as a local drug delivery system as an adjunct to scaling and root planing in controlled diabetic patients- An in vivo study

Abstract

Introduction: A recent trend involving the use of local delivery systems to deliver chemotherapeutic agents implies improved periodontal health. As part of this study, a locally delivered 0.5% azithromycin gel was evaluated for its clinical and microbiological efficacy in treating chronic periodontitis patients with controlled diabetes.

Material and Methods: The split-mouth study design was used in this randomized control trial. The study included 50 sites from 25 patients who had pocket depths greater than 5 mm and were diagnosed with chronic periodontitis. Two treatment groups were randomly assigned: scaling and root planing only (control group) or scaling and root planing with 0.5% azithromycin gel (test group). At selected sites, gingival index, probing pocket depth, and clinical attachment level were analyzed for both groups at baseline, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks.

Result & observations: Both the test and control groups had improved parameters when compared to baseline. The depth of the probing pocket was 6.64±1.07 mm and 7.36±1.15 mm at baseline, which decreased to 4.84±0.59 mm and 4.32±0.98 mm respectively at 12 weeks. The difference was statistically significant at p<0.001. Statistically significant difference in clinical attachment levels between baseline and 12 weeks, at p<0.001. The results of all microbiological categories improved significantly in both groups, while the test group showed a greater improvement.

Conclusion: It was concluded that locally delivered azithromycin could be beneficial in treating chronic periodontitis patients with diabetes when used in conjunction with scaling and root planing.

Keywords: Local drug delivery, Periodontal disease, Diabetes, Azithromycin gel.