Evaluation of the effect of subgingival placement of chlorhexidine chips as an adjunct to scaling and root planing

Background: The purpose of this 9-month study was to compare the effect of scaling and root planing alone (control) to that of scaling and root planing plus application of chlorhexidine chips (test). Methods: Twenty-six subjects having two non-adjacent sites in non-molar teeth with probing depth >= 5 mm and bleeding on probing participated in this split-mouth trial. At baseline, the patients received full-mouth scaling and root planing followed by placement of chlorhexidine chips secured by cyanoacrylate at test sites and placement of cyanoacrylate alone at control sites. Test sites still >= 5 mm deep at 3 and 6 months were retreated with renewed chlorhexidine chip application. Recordings of bleeding on probing, probing depths, and clinical attachment levels were performed at baseline, after 6 weeks, and after 3, 6, and 9 months. Results: Improvements of bleeding scores, probing depths and clinical attachment levels were observed for both test and control sites at 6 weeks compared to baseline. Subsequently, all three measurements remained comparatively stable throughout the study. No differences in improvements were found comparing test and control sites. Conclusion: This study failed to observe any adjunctive effect of subgingival placement of chlorhexidine chips after scaling and root planing.