Clinical efficiency of short and long-term adjuvant therapy of chronic periodontal disease with azithromycin

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to compare the clinical response to two regimes of azithromycin use in the complex of non-surgical periodontal therapy. After initial periodontal therapy of chronic generalized periodontitis (CGP), 60 patients were randomly assigned to 3 groups. In group 2 and 3 azithromycin was administered: 500 mg 1 time per day, 3 days, and by 500 mg 1 time per day, 7 days, followed by 500 mg 1 time per week for 12 weeks. Clinical indexes were record before treatment and after 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. After 3 months 13 patients in group 1st had the exacerbation of CGP, and only 1 and 2 patients (p<0.05) in the 2nd and 3rd groups, respectively. After 12 months, significantly fewer patients on the 3rd group (as compared with the 1st (p=0.0015) and the 2nd (p=0.0040) had clinical exacerbation. Unscheduled visits were significantly less in the 3rd group as compared with the 1st (χ(2)=8.03; p=0.0046). The long-term adjunctive azithromycin results in a significantly clinical benefit of 80% patients for 1 year with satisfactory tolerance.