Comparison of the clinical effectiveness of titanium curettes and chitosan brushes in the non-surgical treatment of peri-implantitis

Objective: The objective of our study is to compare the clinical efficacy of chitosan brushes and titanium curettes in the non-surgical treatment of peri-implantitis patients. Materials and Methods: Our study included 79 implants from a total of 60 systemically healthy individuals diagnosed with peri-implantitis and indicated for nonsurgical treatment. Patients were randomized into two groups of 30 patients each. Nonsurgical treatment was applied to the test group with chitosan brushes and to the control group with titanium curettes. The patients' plaque index, gingival index, bleeding on probing, probing pocket depth, and clinical attachment level values were recorded at the beginning and at 1, 3, and 6 months for each of the six regions of each implant. Results: In our study, statistically significant decreases were observed in PI, GI, BoP, PD, and CAL values at 1, 3, and 6 months compared to baseline in both the test and control groups (p<0.001). In both groups, statistically significant decreases in full mouth PI and full mouth GI scores were observed at 6 months compared to baseline (p<0.001). Compared to baseline, the decrease in PI, BoP, PD, and CAL parameters at 6 months was statistically significantly greater in the chitosan brush group than in the titanium curette group (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results of our study indicate that the use of chitosan brushes in the non-surgical treatment of peri-implantitis yields clinically more successful outcomes compared to titanium curettes and can be used as an alternative in the treatment of peri-implantitis. Long-term clinical studies incorporating biochemical parameters will increase the data on the efficacy of the chitosan brush.