A randomized controlled clinical trial on the clinical and microbiological efficacy of systemic satranidazole in the treatment of chronic periodontitis.

Objective: The present clinical trial was designed to investigate the effectiveness of systemic satranidazole (SZ) as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) in the treatment of chronic periodontitis.

Methods: Sixty-six subjects presenting with at least twelve teeth with probing depth (PD) > or = 4 mm were selected. Thirty-three subjects were randomly assigned to full-mouth SRP + placebo (Group 1) and 33 subjects were assigned to full-mouth SRP + SZ (Group 2). The clinical outcomes evaluated were plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), clinical attachment level (CAL) and PD at baseline, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months. Also, microbial analysis of dental plaque using polymerase chain reaction was done at baseline, 3 and 6 months to estimate the number of sites harboring periodontopathogens.

Results: Sixty subjects were evaluated up to 6 months. At 6 months, Group 2 showed greater mean reduction (3.84 +/- 1.31 mm) in PD as compared to Group 1 (1.42 +/- 1.01 mm; p < 0.05) and there was a greater mean CAL gain (3.22 +/- 1.01 mm) in Group 2 as compared to Group 1 (1.15 +/- 1.49 mm; p < 0.05). These subjects also showed significant reductions in the number of certain periodontopathogens, such as Tannerella forsythia, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans.

Conclusion: The systemic use of SZ, when used as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal therapy in subjects with periodontitis, achieves significantly better clinical and microbiological results than scaling and root planing alone.