The clinical effect of full- mouth scaling and root planning on chronic periodontitis: A preliminary report

PURPOSE: To explore the clinical effect of full- mouth scaling and root planning (FM- SRP) on chronic periodontitis with the comparison of quadrant scaling and root planning (Q- SRP). METHODS: 60 patients with chronic periodontitis were randomly divided into 2 groups. The FM- SRP group received full- mouth scaling and root planning completed within the same day, while the Q- SRP group received quadrant scaling and root planning once a week for 4 weeks. Clinical parameters of plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), bleeding on probing (BOP), probing depth (PD) and attachment loss (AL) were collected at baseline, 3 and 6 months after treatment, as well as the postoperative reaction. The data were analyzed by rank sum test(PI,GI), t test(PD,AL) and Chi square test(BOP), respectively. RESULTS: When compared with the baseline, both therapies resulted in significant improvements in all clinical parameters at the end of 3 and 6 months(P0.01). However, there were no significant difference between the two groups at any time point( P0.05). 24 hours after the first treatment, the percentage of patients with postoperative reactions were significantly higher in FM- SRP group than that in Q- SRP group(P0.05), but the patients could tolerate these reactions. CONCLUSION: Both FM- SRP and Q- SRP are efficacious in treating chronic periodontitis, and the clinician can select the proper treatment modality according to the demand of clinical practice.