Evaluation of the adjunctive use of Er:YAG laser or erythritol powder air-polishing in the treatment of peri-implant mucositis: A randomized clinical trial.

AIM: To assess the efficacy of Er:YAG laser (ERL) and erythritol powder air-polishing (AP) in addition to the submarginal instrumentation in the non-surgical treatment of peri-implant mucositis (PM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with at least one implant diagnosed with PM were included in the present 6-month randomized clinical trial (RCT). Implants were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups after submarginal instrumentation: AP (test 1 group), ERL (test 2 group) or no adjunctive methods (control group). The primary and secondary outcomes were, respectively, bleeding on probing (BoP) reduction and, complete disease resolution (total absence of BoP) and probing pocket depth (PPD) changes. The patient and the implant were considered the statistical unit. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: A total of 75 patients were enrolled in the study. At each time point, significant BoP and PPD reductions were observed within each group. Intergroup analysis did not show statistically significant differences. Complete disease resolution ranged between 29% and 31%. The logistic regression showed that supramucosal restoration margin, PPD < 4 mm and vestibular keratinized mucosa (KM) significantly influenced the probability to obtain treatment success. CONCLUSION: The adjunctive use of AP and ERL in PM non-surgical therapy does not seem to provide any significant or clinically relevant benefit in terms of BoP and PPD reductions and complete disease resolution, over the use of submarginal instrumentation alone. Baseline PPD < 4 mm, presence of buccal KM and supramucosal restoration margin may play a role in the complete resolution of PM.

Variability of the fimA gene in Porphyromonas gingivalis isolated from periodontitis and non-periodontitis patients.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to determine the genetic variability of the fimA gene in Porphyromonas gingivalis isolates from Spanish patients. STUDY DESIGN: Pooled subgingival samples were taken, processed and cultured in non-selective blood agar medium. Pure cultures of one to six isolates per patient were obtained and PCR and PCR-RFLP were used for fimbrillin gene (fimA) type determination of the extracted genomic (DNA). RESULTS: Two hundred and twenty four Porphyromonas gingivalis isolates from 65 patients were analyzed consisting of 15 non-periodontitis patients (66 isolates) and 50 with periodontitis (158 isolates). Genotype II was the most prevalent (50.9%), while the other types of fimbriae did not exceed fifteen percent of prevalence. Isolates with types II and IV of fimbriae were significantly more prevalent in periodontitis patients than isolates with genotype I. Co-infection was observed in 17.65% of the patients analyzed. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that in this population Porphyromonas gingivalis with type II of fimbriae are significantly more predominant in periodontitis patients than genotype I.

Prevalence and Periodontal Conditions of Developmental Grooves in an Italian School of Dentistry and Dental Hygiene: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to (i) determine the prevalence and distribution of developmental grooves in a young population and (ii) to evaluate the local periodontal conditions. Methods: Two hundred and fifty-one students with a mean age of 22.9 ± 4.7, attending the School of Dentistry and Dental Hygiene of Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (Milan, Italy) were included. The subjects underwent a clinical evaluation by two calibrated examiners. The following clinical parameters were recorded for each site presenting a radicular groove and for each corresponding site on an adjacent tooth used as control: probing pocket depth, plaque index, bleeding on probing, recession depth. Results: The prevalence of radicular grooves at patient and tooth level was 15.9% and 5%, respectively. When compared to control sites, the number of teeth with a radicular groove that presented plaque and bleeding on probing was higher. The logistic regression analysis showed that the presence of radicular grooves was significantly associated with the presence of plaque (OR, 6.14, p < 0.001) and of bleeding on probing (OR, 2.91, p = 0.01). Conclusions: The presence of radicular grooves increases the possibility of developing gingival inflammation by acting as a plaque retentive factor.