Evaluation of non-surgical periodontal treatment using 2 time intervals

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of non-surgical mechanical instrumentation at 2 different time intervals on short-term healing and to assess patient reactions following non-surgical periodontal therapy.

The study population consisted of 100 patients with moderate periodontal disease. Patients were equally distributed into 2 groups, treated daily or weekly. The daily group received full-mouth daily scaling and root planing for 4 consecutive days. The weekly group was treated once a week for 4 weeks. All patients were asked for objective (lymphadenopathy, aphthous stomatitis, and edema) and subjective (fatigue, pain, pruritus, burning sensation, and dentinalgia) reactions. Clinical measurements of plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), probing depth (PD), bleeding on probing (BOP), and gingival recession (GR) were taken at baseline and 3 months after treatment. All of the objective and subjective reactions were recorded after each treatment session.

The results of our study revealed a significant decrease in PI, GI, BOP, and PD measurements at the end of the third month, but no significant changes in GR. The incidence of subjective and objective reactions was higher in the daily treated group compared to those in the weekly group. Most of these complaints were observed after the third treatment session.

Within the limits of this study, no differences were observed between the study groups when the clinical parameters were evaluated. However, taking the subjective and objective reactions into consideration, the smallest time interval for non-surgical periodontal procedures might be 1 week.