Non-surgical instrumentation associated with povidone-iodine in the treatment of interproximal furcation involvements

Objective: the aim of this controlled clinical trial was to evaluate the effect of topically applied povidone-iodine (pvp-i) used as an adjunct to non-surgical treatment of interproximal class ii furcation involvements. material and methods: thirty-two patients presenting at least one interproximal class ii furcation involvement that bled on probing with probing pocket depth (ppd) ≥5 mm were recruited. patients were randomly chosen to receive either subgingival instrumentation with an ultrasonic device using pvp-i (10%) as the cooling liquid (test group) or identical treatment using distilled water as the cooling liquid (control group). the following clinical outcomes were evaluated: visible plaque index,bleeding on probing (bop),position of the gingival margin,relative attachment level (ral),ppd and relative horizontal attachment level (rhal). bapna (n-benzoyl-l- arginine-p-nitroanilide) testing was used to analyze trypsin-like activity in dental biofilm. all parameters were evaluated at baseline and 1,3 and 6 months after non-surgical subgingival instrumentation. results: six months after treatment,both groups had similar means of ppd reduction,ral and rhal gain (p>0.05). these variables were,respectively,2.20±1.10 mm,1.27±1.02 mm and 1.33±0.85 mm in the control group and 2.67±l.2l mm,1.50±1.09 mm and 1.56±0.93 mm in the test group. no difference was observed between groups at none of the posttreatment periods,regarding the number of sites showing clinical attachment gain ≥2 mm. however,at 6 months posttreatment,the test group presented fewer sites with ppd ≥5 mm than the control group. also at 6 months the test group had lower bapna values than control group. conclusion: the use of pvp-i as an adjunct in the non-surgical treatment of interproximal class ii furcation involvements provided limited additional clinical benefits.