Efficacy of Adjunctive Chlorhexidine in non-surgical treatment of Peri-Implantitis/Peri-Implant Mucositis: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: The current review aimed to assess the efficacy of adjunctive chlorhexidine (CHX) in the non-surgical treatment of peri-implantitis/peri-implant mucositis. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Science Direct, CENTRAL, and Google Scholar databases were searched up to 10(th) March 2022 for relevant randomized controlled trials or controlled clinical trials. RESULTS: Fourteen studies were included. Meta-analysis revealed significantly lower probing depths in peri-implant mucositis patients using CHX adjuncts as compared to controls (SMD: -1.49 95% CI: -2.56, -0.42 I2=95% p=0.006). However, the same effect was not noted in peri-implantitis (SMD: -1.18 95% CI: -0.04, 2.40 I2=96% p=0.06). CHX was not found to improve bleeding of probing in peri-implant mucositis while sufficient data was unavailable for peri-implantitis. Results on other outcome variables were conflicting. CONCLUSION: Evidence on the efficacy of adjunctive CHX for peri-implant mucositis is conflicting. Similarly, strong conclusions on the effect of CHX for peri-implantitis cannot be drawn due to limited number of studies. Overall, there seems to be a trend of non-significant impact of CHX on outcomes of peri-implant mucositis as well as peri-implantitis.