JCP Digest asks whether titanium curettes or chitosan brushes are better for supportive therapy after peri-implant surgery

Surgical therapy has been shown to have a beneficial short-term effect on the progression of peri-implant disease. Post-surgery, supportive peri-implant therapy is important and different techniques have been deployed.

Research summarised as JCP Digest, number 82, assessed the use of chitosan brushes (test) and titanium curettes (control) as treatment methods in supportive peri-implant therapy, from six months to 18 months after surgical treatment for peri-implantitis.

The two-armed randomised clinical trial, carried out by researchers at the University of Oslo in Norway, involved 45 patients with a total of 143 implants.

The percentage of implants with peri-implant disease during the observation period was higher than 80%, with no significant difference between the groups.

Researchers concluded that the results indicated that neither of the treatment protocols was effective in the maintenance of dental implants following surgical peri-implant therapy.

They said that the study highlighted the need for more effective maintenance protocols in obtaining stable peri-implant health following surgical therapy.

The study was summarised for JCP Digest by students at the EFP-accredited postgraduate programme of periodontology at the Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel.

READ JCP DIGEST