Efficacy of Perimed antibacterial system on established gingivitis. (I). Clinical results.

A 6-month, double-blind controlled study was conducted on 101 subjects to determine the effect of Perimed antibacterial system, containing povidone-iodine (PVP-I) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), on established gingivitis. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of 4 treatment groups: PVP-I/H2O2, PVP-I/H2O, H2O2/H2O or H2O. Gingivitis was assessed by the papillary bleeding score (PBS) and plaque by a modified Quigley-Hein plaque index (PI) at baseline, 3, 12 and 24 weeks. The average baseline PBS and PI for the 4 groups ranged from 2.16-2.31 and 2.87-2.90, respectively. After baseline evaluation, subjects received a supra-gingival scaling and a subgingival irrigation with their respective rinse. Daily rinses were supervised and subgingival irrigation was repeated every 3 weeks. Duncan's multiple range test determined which groups differed from each other. The mean PI at 24 weeks was lower than at baseline in all groups. PVP-I had the lowest PI at all time points. The mean PBS at 24 weeks was 1.48 for PVP-I, 1.62 for H2O2, 1.88 for H2O and 1.34 for PVP-I/H2O2, a reduction from baseline of 31%, 27%, 18%, and 38% respectively. The difference between the PBS for PVP-I/H2O2 and H2O control was significant at each evaluation. There was a 70% reduction in sites with PBS greater than or equal to 3 for PVP-I/H2O2 between baseline and 24 weeks compared to a 34% decrease in the H2O group. It was concluded that the use of Perimed could be a beneficial adjunctive treatment for the prevention and control of gingivitis when used with routine oral hygiene procedures.