[Effect of subgingival plaque control by direct irrigation technique--2. Clinical and microbiological changes after...

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of the subgingival plaque control by direct irrigation. Twelve adult patients with periodontal pockets of 4 mm or more received an initial treatment. The patients were followed by irrigation using the device called Pocket Irrigator PT-01 with 0.05% acrinol solution or 0.025% benzalkonium chloride solution. The clinical and microbiological parameters were recorded prior to the irrigation and immediately after, at 1 hour, 1 day and 1 week after the irrigation. The Plaque Index, Gingival Index, gingival crevicular fluid and probing depth were used as clinical parameters. Samples of the subgingival plaque were collected with sterilized paper points from the periodontal pockets. The samples were examined by dark field microscopy with the Petroff-Hauser counting chamber with a magnification of 1,500x. The total number of bacteria and the proportion of the motile rods and spirochetes of the pockets were examined. All clinical parameters showed no significant changes after the irrigation. Intracrevicular irrigation by both acrinol and benzalkonium chloride solution significantly reduced the relative number of bacteria and the percentage of spirochetes/motile rods, when compared to those before the irrigation on day 1, though the differences did not persist on day 7. Thus, only by the single irrigation of the deep pockets with acrinol or benzalkonium chloride, the beneficial effects did not appear to continue clinically and microbiologically for a week.