Periodontology Literature Review

ANTIMICROBIALS: TOPICAL

Loesche, W., E. Green, EB. Kenney, and D. Nafe. Effect of topical Kanamycin sulfate on plaque accumulation. JADA, 83:1069, 1971.

Purpose:

This study was designed to investigate whether a topical antibiotic used 3 times daily would decrease plaque that causes periodontal disease and dental caries.

Materials and methods:

The subjects for this study were patients in Plymouth State Home and Training School between the ages of 13 to 32. Seven were females and 6 were males. These patients had low caries incidence with moderate to severe periodontitis. The antibiotic used was kanamycin sulfate and chosen because it is non absorbable, it is a broad spectrum antibiotic including in vitro inhibition of several S. mutans strains, it has a long shelf life and is tasteless.

Results:

Topical kanamycin sulfate caused an improvement in the gingival health of all of the patients. Four weeks after treatment, the gingivitis scores of the antibiotic group were significantly reduced when compared with scores for the control group. This difference was not observed eight weeks after treatment. The control group could not be used to compare at this time frame because the nurse prematurely started brushing the control groups dentition.

Conclusions:

This topical antibiotic has short term abilities in non brushing patients to reduce plaque, but not long term

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