Clinical and microbiological effects of systemic azithromycin in adjunct to nonsurgical periodontal therapy in treatment of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans associated periodontitis: a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate clinical and microbiological effects of systemic azithromycin (AZM) in adjunct to nonsurgical periodontal therapy (NSPT; or scaling root planing - SRP) in treatment of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans associated periodontitis (AAAP). Seventy individuals with moderate to severe periodontitis and subgingival detection of A.actinomycetemcomitans were randomly allocated to two groups. Thirty-five individuals were allocated to full mouth SRP+AZM (500mg oral delivery (OD)×3days) while 35 individuals were allocated to SRP+Placebo (OD×3days) group. The clinical variables evaluated were probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), gingival index (GI), plaque index (PI), and percent bleeding on probing sites (%BOP), while microbiologic variables included percentage of subjects positive for A.actinomycetemcomitans at baseline, 3, 6, and 12months. The AZM group showed statistically significant reduction in mean PD (2.91±0.88mm) as compared to placebo (1.51±0.98mm) (P<0.001), while CAL gain was significant in the AZM group (2.71±1.15mm) as compared to the placebo group (1.71±1.29mm) (P<0.001). There was also a statistically significant reduction in the number of subjects positive for A.actinomycetemcomitans in the AZM group (P<0.0001). Azithromycin was found to significantly improve the clinical and microbiological parameters in AAAP individuals.