The Effects Of Amoxicillin And Metronidazole On Patients With Untreated Stage Iii Grade C Generalized Periodonti-tis: A Prospective Randomized Clinical Trial With 6- And 12-month Follow-ups

OBJECTIVES: In this prospective study, we analyzed data from patients suffering from stage III grade C generalized per-iodontitis and assessed treatment outcomes via determination of periodontal probing depth (PPD), bleeding on probing (BOP), clinical attachment loss (CAL) and the plaque index (PI, O´Leary et al.1972) during scheduled appointments. AIM: To compare treatment results between two groups of patients suffering from generalized periodontitis (stage III, grade C); both groups were treated with deep scaling (DS) and root planing (RP), but only one group was also treated with antibiotics (ATBs: amoxicillin (AMX) and metronidazole (MTZ)). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This prospective study included 21 female and 19 male subjects divided into two groups. All the subjects were examined at baseline and 6 and 12 months later. The PPD, CAL, BOP and PlI were measured and compared between groups and sexes. RESULTS: For intragroup changes, the PPD, CAL, PI and BOP significantly decreased at the 6-month follow-up. Com-pared with the 6-month values, the 12-month values for these parameters did not significantly change. For the inter-group comparison, a statistically significant difference in PPD was observed between the case and control groups at the 6-month follow-up, with a difference of 0.45 mm (p = 0.008) favoring adjunctive AMX and MTZ treatment. For CAL, there was a difference of -0.61 mm in the control group; however, this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.121). BOP was lower in the case group, with a difference of 0.05, but the results were not significant (p = 0.365). The between-group difference in the PI of 0.05 was not significantly different (p = 1). There were no significant differences in the 6- and 12-month values for these parameters. CONCLUSION: Adjunctive AMX and MTZ treatment in patients with stage III grade C generalized periodontitis led to a significantly greater decrease in PPD. However, further investigations are needed on the effect of AMX+MTZ on CAL reversal. No significant difference in BOP was detected between the groups. The treatment results remained stable dur-ing the 6–12 month period in both groups.