Preliminary Data on Periodontal Disease Treatment Using Topical Oxidizing Agents

Objectives: Presentation of preliminary data from multi-year, multi-clinic study on use of Perio Protect Method™(PPM) - prescription medical device placing oxidizing agents into periodontal pockets in combination with SRP - to treat periodontal disease (PD). This study examines 3-month outcomes on subjects with mild to moderate PD among 3 dentists; one being the inventor of PPM, Dentist 3. Methods: 35 subjects were divided: 11 with Dentist 1 (7 females;52.8± 12.7 years;group 1), 10 with Dentist 2 (6 females;56.5±11.0 years;group 2), and 14 with Dentist 3 (10 females;59.5±15.7 years;group 3). Baseline and 3-month follow-up evaluations measured PPDs (6 per tooth) and bleeding on probing (BOP; dichotomous for each tooth). All subjects received instructions in supra-gingival care and PPM use with oxidizing agent (1.7% hydrogen peroxide). Post H2O2 treatment initiation, Dentist 1 and 2 performed quadrant and/or site-specific SRP while Dentist 3 performed only site-specific SRP. Percentage of closed pockets (<4mm) for each subject was calculated. Data analysis used Wilcoxon Signed Ranks and Kruskal-Wallis with post-hoc Kolmogorov-Smirnov. Results: No significant difference in closed pockets and BOP among groups was observed at baseline. All groups showed significant improvement from baseline in PPD and BOP (p<0.05) except for group 2 which was unchanged on BOP. At follow-up, all groups improved in closed pockets with no significant differences among groups (group 1= 96.0±5.0%; group 2=94.0±4.3%; group 3=96.6±9.7%). All but one subject (Group 3) showed improvement in closed pockets (range all groups=0.5-45.7%). Group 3 had significantly greater improvement in BOP (0.0±0.0%) at follow-up than group 1 (17.8±18.3%;p=0.003) and group 2 (49.9±31.2%;p<0.001). Conclusion: Dentists can achieve good results in PPDs in 3 months using PPM. PPD changes along with group 3's decrease in BOP suggest that PPM has the potential to decrease need for extensive invasive dental procedures in early stage PD.