0.1%/0.2% commercial chlorhexidine solutions as subgingival irrigants in chronic periodontitis

This study compared 2 proprietary chlorhexidine (CH) products, Corsodyl (CO-0.2% CH, then ICI, U.K.) and Eludril (EL-0.1% CH, Pierre Fabre, France) as subgingival irrigants adjunctive to Simplified Oral Hygiene. 19 subjects, 8M, 11F, aged 30-57 years, mean 44 years, took part. Probing pocket depth (PPD) ranged from 5-10 mm, mean 6.5 mm (CO and EL), with 60 CO and 65 EL sites. After oral hygiene instruction, without stress on interdental cleaning, patients received on visit supra- and subgingival debridement, and instruction in subgingival irrigation using the Max-I-Probe system (Smith & Nephew MPL, USA). For baseline, days 28 (end of irrigation), 56 and 84, data were respectively: GI (medians): 1.7, 1.2, 1.2, 1.0 (CO), 1.9, 1.5, 1.3, 1.0 EL); BOP (medians): 1.2, 0.4, 0.7, 0.4 (CO), 1.5, 0.6, 0.6, 0.25 (EL); PPD (mm) (means): 6.3, 4.8, 4.2, 4.5 (CO), 6.8, 5.2, 5.3, 4.7 (EL); PAL (mm) (means-change relative to day 0): 0.6, 0.5, 0.8 (CO), 0.8, 0.8, 1.5 (EL). By Wilcoxon for non-parametric and t-tests for parametric data, both groups showed significant improvement for all variables at all times relative to baseline, with only one significant difference between the groups, in favour of EL, for PAL at day 84 (p < 0.05). This pilot study indicates that both simplified oral hygiene regimes are effective in periodontitis, but that there was no difference between the 2 commercial irrigants as adjunctives.