Clinical outcome observed in subjects with recurrent periodontal disease following local treatment with 25% metronidazole gel.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome in patients with recurrent periodontal disease following treatment with 25% metronidazole gel.

Methods: Twenty subjects in a maintenance care program but with recurrent periodontal disease participated. Three months after scaling and root planing, a total of 40 sites, 2 in each patient, with probing depth > or = 5 mm were selected. One site randomly selected was treated with metronidazole gel (test) and the other site with a placebo gel (control). Baseline and follow-up measurements included plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), bleeding on probing (BOP), probing depth (PD), and clinical attachment level (CAL).

Results: There were no statistically significant differences in PI, GI, BOP, PD, or CAL between test and control sites.

Conclusion: This study showed that local treatment with 25% metronidazole gel did not seem to influence the clinical healing in this group of subjects with recurrent periodontal disease.