Antimicrobial irrigation of deep pockets to supplement non-surgical periodontal therapy. II. Daily irrigation.

106 sites with probing pocket depths 7 mm or greater from 14 patients were treated with plaque control instruction and 1 episode of root planing. Sites in each patient were either irrigated with 2% chlorhexidine or left as non-irrigated controls. Irrigation immediately followed root planing and was repeated daily, by the patient, for 24 weeks. Clinical measurements were made at 12 and 24 weeks, as were gingival washings for determining the number and % of spirochetes. Results at 24 weeks demonstrated that bleeding scores decreased from 91% to 9%; the % of spirochetes dropped from approximately 9% to less than 1%; probing pocket depths decreased from 7.5 to 4.5 mm, and probing attachment levels gained 1.1 to 1.4 mm. The chlorhexidine irrigated experimental group and the non-irrigated control group did not differ significantly in any of the studied parameters. Thus, daily patient-administered chlorhexidine irrigation of deep pockets did not augment the effects of non-surgical periodontal therapy.