Periodontal Dressing: A Review Article

The purpose of this paper was to review the commercially available periodontal dressings, their physical and chemical properties, biocompatibility and therapeutic effects. Electronic search of scientific papers from 1956 to 2012 was carried out using PubMed, Scopus and Wiley InterScience search engines using the searched terms periodontal dressing, periodontal pack. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have evaluated various properties of periodontal dressings. Physical and chemical properties of dressings are directly related to their dimensional changes and adhesion properties. Their biocompatibility and therapeutic effect are among the other factors evaluated in the literature. Chlorhexidine is the most commonly used antibacterial agent in studies. In general, when comparing the advantages with the disadvantages, application of periodontal dressing seems to be beneficial. Numerous factors are involved in selection of an optimal dressing such as surgeon’s intention, required time for the dressing to remain on the surgery site and its dimensional changes.