RESUMO
Backgroud: Peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis are the main biological complications associated withdental implants. Since most authors agree that bacteria play a major etiological role, the main aims of this studywere to determine if a formulation of erythritol and chlorhexidine applied with an air polishing system inhibitsbiofilm re-growth over dental implants and to compare the decontamination capacity of this therapy with that ofmechanical removal by saline and gauze.Material and Methods: A multispecies biofilm (P. gingivalis, A. actinomycetemcomitans, F. nucleatum, A. naes-lundii, V. parvula and S. oralis) was grown for 14 days on 52 dental implants in an artificial mouth. These implantswere divided into three groups according to the applied treatment: 14 negative control (CON), 19 erythritol-chlorhexidine (ERY) and 19 gauze with saline (GAU) samples. Twelve dental implants from the ERY and GAUgroups and 8 implants from the CON group were re-incubated for 7 additional days after treatment. The bacterialcount was performed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) using propidium monoazide (PMA). Adescriptive and bivariate analysis of the data was performed.Results: The erythritol and chlorhexidine formulation significantly inhibited biofilm regrowth in comparison withthe mechanical treatment (GAU), since a significant decrease in all the species was observed in the ERY group(except for Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans). The antibiofilm and antibacterial capacity of the two activetreatment groups (ERY and GAU) was similar for a 14 days multispecies in vitro biofilm, except for the lowercount of A. naeslundii in the GAU group. Conclusions: The use of erythritol powder with chlorhexidine applied with an air polishing system reduces biofilmregrowth over dental implants when compared with mechanical removal by saline and gauze. This effect might bebeneficial for patients included in peri-implant maintenance programs.(AU)
