Evaluation of the effects of airflow application in addition to non-surgical periodontal treatment in stage-III periodontitis

The aim of this clinical study was to evaluate the effects of airflow with nano hydroxyapatite powder (nano-HA) into the periodontal pocket in addition to non-surgical periodontal therapy (NPT) with clinical and microbiological parameters. This randomized, split mouth study included 24 stage III grade B periodontitis patients who were systemically healthy. Clinical and microbiological parameters were evaluated at 24 sites treated with NPT (control) and 24 sites treated with NPT+airflow with nano-HA powder (test). Clinical periodontal recordings of the patients were taken at baseline and after treatment at 1 and 3 months. Subgingival plaque samples were harvested from both sites at baseline and three months after treatment. The analysis of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola in subgingival plaque samples was performed by polymerase chain reaction method. As a result of statistical analyzes, improvement in clinical periodontal parameters was noted in both study groups (p <0.05). There was a statistically significant decrease in the gingival index (GI) at third month, in the papillary bleeding (PBI) at first month and in the bleeding on probing rate at first and third month (p <0.05). Probing depth (PD) mean was statistically lower in the test group at 3 months compared to the groups (p <0.05). In terms clinical attachment loss (CAL), the average of the test region was significantly lower in the 1-3 months measurements. In the test side, PD change was significantly higher than control side between baseline and first month. CAL change was significantly higher than control side between baseline-1st month and 1-3 months. A statistically significant decrease was found in both groups in the third month compared to baseline in total bacteria, Pg, and Td. No significant difference was observed in any time period in the comparison of the number of Aa, Pg, Td and total bacteria between groups. In our study, the application of airflow with nano-HA into the pocket simultaneously with CPT has been shown to be more effective on clinical parameters, but there was no difference between the two methods in terms of microbiological data.