Influence of application of chlorhexidine gel and curcumin gel as an adjunct to scaling and root planing: A interventional study

BACKGROUND: Currently, the most common therapy for periodontal diseases consists of professional scaling and root planing (SRP). However, it was found to be of limited efficacy especially in areas which are inaccessible to periodontal instrumentation. Therefore, treatment strategies using antimicrobials in conjunction with conventional therapy have evolved. Thus, the study was undertaken with an. AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of application of chlorhexidine gel and curcumin gel as an adjunct to SRP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted on thirty chronic periodontitis patients who were divided into two groups as control and experimental groups using a split-mouth design. After SRP chlorhexidine gel was applied in control and curcumin gel in experimental groups. The plaque index, gingival index, sulcus bleeding index, probing pocket depth were recorded at baseline and subsequently after 1 month and 45 days. RESULTS: The results revealed that both chlorhexidine gel and curcumin gel have an effect on mild to moderate periodontal pockets in chronic periodontitis patients, but greater reduction was observed in the experimental group than the control group. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that both control and experimental gel can be used as an adjunct to SRP, but the curcumin gel was more effective than the chlorhexidine gel in the treatment of mild to moderate periodontal pockets with a significant reduction in the indice scores when compared to the baseline values.