Subgingival glycine powder air-polishing as an additional approach to nonsurgical periodontal therapy in subjects with untreated chronic periodontitis

Background and Objective: Glycine powder air-polishing (GPAP) is an alternative approach to removing subgingival plaque biofilms for effective periodontal therapy. This study aimed to investigate the effect of subgingival GPAP as an additional approach to nonsurgical periodontal treatment in subjects with chronic periodontitis. Material and Methods: Twenty-seven nonsmoking subjects were recruited. Two quadrants in each subject were randomly assigned, according to a split-mouth design, to receive scaling and root planing (SRP) and GPAP (Test group) or SRP and air flushing with water (Control group) at sites with probing depth >= 5mm. Clinical parameters, gingival crevicular fluid volumes and the concentrations of interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-1ra in gingival crevicular fluid were measured at baseline and 1, 3 and 6months after the treatments. Results: At baseline, no statistically significant difference in periodontal and gingival crevicular fluid parameters was found between the Test and Control groups. Overall, the periodontal conditions of all subjects showed significant improvement after the treatments. Notably, the Test group showed greater reduction in gingival crevicular fluid volume (0.37 +/- 0.26 mu L) than the Control group (0.23 +/- 0.30 mu L) at 3months (P<.05). The gingival crevicular fluid levels of interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-1ra showed a significant decrease in both groups at 6months, and no significant difference was found between the groups. Conclusion: These preliminary results suggest that GPAP, as an additional approach to nonsurgical periodontal treatment, may be beneficial for the short-term improvement of subclinical inflammation when measured by gingival crevicular fluid volume. Further longitudinal studies with larger sample sizes are required to clarify the exact benefits of GPAP treatment for controlling inflammation and maintaining long-term periodontal health.