Local oxygen therapy for treating acute necrotizing periodontal disease in smokers.

BACKGROUND

The main aim of treatment for acute necrotizing periodontal disease is fast and effective reduction of anaerobic destructive microorganisms to avoid periodontal damage. The effect of adjunctive local oxygen therapy in the treatment of necrotizing periodontal disease was examined in this study.

METHODS

Thirty patients with acute necrotizing periodontal disease were treated with the systemic antibiotics amoxicillin, clavulanic acid, and metronidazole. In 15 out of 30 patients, adjunctive local oxygen therapy was administered. The patients were followed from the first to 10th day of treatment with clinical and bacteriological examinations. The clinical examination registered gingival bleeding, periodontal probing depth, and attachment loss; to follow up microbiological colonization of the periodontal sulcus, five representative bacteria were registered by a semiquantitative DNA polymerase chain reaction test.

RESULTS

In both groups of patients, colonization with Prevotella intermedia, Tannerella forsythensis, and Treponema denticola was initially positive. None of these three microorganisms were completely eradicated in any of the patients in the group without oxygen therapy within the first 10 days of treatment. In the group with adjunctive oxygen therapy, all patients either showed a reduction in or complete eradication of the microorganisms, resulting in more rapid clinical restitution with less periodontal destruction.

CONCLUSIONS

Adjunctive oxygen therapy results in early eradication of pathogenic anaerobic microorganisms in cases of acute necrotizing periodontal disease. The damage to periodontal tissue is reduced.