Ashank Mishra, Baddam Harshitha, Krishnajaneya Reddy

ABSTRACT

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of four topical antimicrobial dental gels as an adjunct to mechanical plaque control in chronic gingivitis patients.Materials and Methods: This was a randomized four arm parallel study including forty systemically healthy patients with chronic generalized gingivitis (MGI>1). They were randomly assigned into four groups i.e, group one- Curcuma gel, group two- Chlorhexidine gluconate gel group three- Povidone Iodine gel, group four- Metronidazole gel. After a thorough scaling, the subjects were instructed to use the topical gel assigned to them twice a day for a period of three weeks. The clinical parameters viz. Plaque Index (PI), Modified Gingival Index (MGI) and Sulcus bleeding index (SBI) were recorded at baseline and at the end of the study period (three weeks). Intra and inter-group comparisons of clinical parameters were done using appropriate statistical tests. Results: No significant differences were seen among the four study groups with respect to mean PI and SBI scores at three weeks. However, there was significant difference with respect to mean MGI among the four study groups. Post-hoc analysis showed that group two had significantly lower reduction in mean MGI than Group one. Conclusion: In the present study the chlorhexidine group showed more reduction in MGI compared to other groups. Further studies with a larger sample size are required to attribute the effect of topical gel application on gingival status..