Surgical versus non-surgical treatment and recurrent periodontal disease in beagle dogs.

Abstract

The present study was designed to compare clinical, microbiologic and histometric parameters of recurrent periodontal disease in areas which had been treated either surgically (SU) or nonsurgically (NS). Periodontal disease was induced for 6 months in 3 quadrants in each of 6 beagle dogs. 2 of the 3 diseased quadrants were treated by definitive surgical or nonsurgical therapy followed by plaque control for 4 months. 2 dogs were then sacrificed to provide histometric data. Periodontal disease was reinduced in the remaining 4 dogs by allowing plaque accumulation for 6 months after which the dogs were sacrificed for histometric analysis. Clinical parameters were recorded and darkfield microscopic analysis of subgingival plaque samples was performed at regular intervals. Following 6 months of plaque accumulation during disease reinduction, there were significant changes (p less than 0.05) in the pocket depths, bleeding scores and attachment levels in both the SU and NS areas. These changes were accompanied by significant increases (p less than 0.05) in the proportions of spirochetes and motile rods and decreases in the proportions of coccoid cells in both the SU and NS areas. There were, however, no significant differences between the SU and NS areas when clinical and microbiologic parameters were compared. At the end of disease reinduction phase, the length of inflammatory cell infiltrate and % inflamed connective tissue had increased significantly in both the SU and NS areas.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)