The comparative evaluation of 1% alendronate gel as local drug delivery system in chronic periodontitis in smokers and non smokers: Randomized clinical trial.

INTRODUCTION: Periodontitis is a progressive disease of microbial origin involving the loss of supporting tissues of the teeth resulting from host inflammatory and immunologic reactions. The standard approach to the prevention and treatment of periodontal diseases for a number of years has been mechanical therapy and if required surgical intervention Researcher thought of creating a treatment modality where by altering the host response, the destructive host mechanisms could be interfered affecting the final outcome of the disease process. AIM: The present study aims to explore the efficacy of local delivery of a 1% Alendronate (ALN) gel as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) for the treatment of infrabony periodontal pockets in smokers and non-smoker with Chronic Periodontitis. MATERIALS AND
METHOD: 60 infrabony periodontal pockets in patients with chronic periodontitis between the age group of 30-50 years were selected. The study consisted of 2 groups smoker and nonsmoker. A gel based drug delivery system of Alendronate was formulated. 0.1 ml alendronate gel and 0.1 ml placebo gel was placed at the experimental and control sites respectively following root planing. Clinical and radiographic parameters were recorded at baseline, three months and six months.
RESULTS: Alendronate was effective in improving clinical and radiographic parameters compared to placebo. Alendronate showed better result in non smoker group when compared with smoker group.
CONCLUSION: This Study showed improvements in clinical parameters both at the control and experimental sites. However, the experimental sites (Alendronate) showed greater improvement as compared to the control sites (Placebo). A significant gain in alveolar crest height and defect fill was measured radiographically at non smoker Alendronate group.