Air polishing in periodontal maintenance - your latest JCP Digest

What are the advantages of air-polishing in supportive periodontal therapy (SPT)?

Assessing the efficacy of this method of removing newly formed bacterial deposits from residual pockets was the aim of a study published in September 2014 by the EFP's prestigious Journal of Clinical Periodontology (JCP), and which was then summarised by a team of rapporteurs under the supervision of leading Israeli periodontologist Eli. E. Machtei.

The resulting research précis is the ninth JCP Digest (09) to be published by the EFP. The document, which can be read and downloaded here, brings you the essential details of this work, Subgingival air-polishing with erythritol during periodontal maintenance: Randomised clinical trial of twelve months. A 12-month randomised clinical trial, evaluates the efficacy of repeated sub-gingival air-polishing containing erythritol powder with 0.3% chlorhexidine in residual pockets of >4 mm.

The study was industry-supported rather than independent. The authors point out that air-polishing devices are just one of a variety of methods used in SPT.

This particular method uses compressed air in an attempt to blast out bacterial deposits from residual pockets.

A relevant study is chosen from each monthly issue of the JCP to be boiled down to a concise format ideal for practitioners with little time to read long research papers. The summary of this study was carried out by residents from the postgraduate programme at the Department of Periodontology, School of graduate dentistry, Rambam HCC and ­the Faculty of Medicine – Technion, Israeli Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.