Supragingival plaque control is a requisite for the success of any periodontal procedure. However, little is know about the effect of this procedure alone on periodontitis. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of supragingival plaque control on clinical and biochemical parameters of chronic periodontitis. Twenty-five subjects exhibiting at least 4 pockets > 5mm, non-smokers and with no relevant systemic diseases, were selected for the study. The clinical and biochemical assessments were done before and 21 days after removal of plaque retentive factors, extraction of affected teeth and instruction in oral hygiene. The statistical analysis was done with the Student paired t-test (p<0,05) and demonstrated a reduction on the percentage of sites with bleeding on probing from 42.72 ± 15.83 to 35.87 ± 13.30 (p=0.002). Reduction in probing depth was detected on anterior teeth (initial/final mean: 2.88 mm/2.78 mm; p=0.01) and interproximal sites (initial/final mean: 3.80 mm/3.65 mm; p=0.001). There was an increase from 66.81% to 68.65% in the number of sites with probing depth of 1 to 3mm and a decrease from 26.21% to 24.17% in those with probing depth of 4 to 6mm. The BAPNA results showed a decrease from 51.44 ± 20.78 to 38.64 ± 12.34 (p=0.04). This study demonstrated that supragingival plaque control provides a reduction in gingival inflammation and alterations in the subgingival microflora detected by the BAPNA test.
Supragingival plaque; Subgingival microflora; Periodontitis
