Therapeutic efficacy of clindamycin gel as an adjunct to scaling and root planing therapy in chronic periodontal disease.

Clindamycin, a lincosamide antibiotic, has been under-recognized as an antimicrobial agent for use in dentistry. The aim of the present work was to evaluate clinical efficacy of 2% clindamycin gel in addition to the basic mechanical periodontal therapy. At baseline, scaling and root planing (SRP) was performed at all 50 subjects (control group and test group). Clindamycin gel was applied after SRP only in the test group. Clinical measurements including periodontal pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL), bleeding on probing (BOP) and plaque index (PI) were done at baseline, and at 3 and 6 months after treatment. Compared to baseline, the PPD and CAL values significantly decreased in the test group (p < 0.05) and were statistically lower (p < 0.05) compared to control group. PPD reduction of 2.42 mm was obtained in the test group and could be generally considered as clinically significant. A PPD reduction greater than 2 mm indicated that clindamycin gel could be used efficiently as an adjunct to SRP. Also, between-group difference in BOP and PI scores was statistically significant 6 months after treatment. In conclusion, the application of clindamycin gel in combination with SRP enhanced the efficacy of non surgical periodontal therapy in reducing pocket depth and improving attachment levels in chronic periodontitis subjects and had additional benefits over mechanical therapy alone.