local drug therapy in periodontal disease

Several local drug delivery systems employed as monotherapies improved periodontal health and provided results that were not statistically significantly different than attained with scaling and root planing (SRP) alone. In contrast,many local drug delivery devices when used as adjuncts to SRP provided a statistically significant enhancement of parameters commonly used to monitor periodontal status. However,meanimprovements with respect to probing depth reduction or gainof clinical attachment were often limited to tenths of millimeters.Several devices also achieved specific criteria that canbe used to identify clinically significant findings (e.g., numberof sites with probing depth reduction ‡2 mm). However, there are conflicting datawith respect to the ability of local drug deliveryto enhance results of SRP at deep probing sites, and there is limited information relative to its capability to inhibit disease progression or enhance osseous repair in infrabony defects. Conclusion: The decision to use local drug delivery during active treatment or maintenance should be based upon clinical findings, responses to therapy recorded in the literature, desired clinical outcomes, and the patient’s dental and medical history. J Periodontol 2006;77:565-578.