A 9-month double-blind controlled clinical study was conducted on adult subjects using either Listerine antiseptic, its vehicle control, or a water control in order to determine the efficacy of the antiseptic mouthrinse in inhibiting the development of plaque and gingivitis. Following screening examinations for minimal entry levels of plaque and gingivitis, all subjects received a complete prophylaxis. Subjects then continued their usual oral hygiene habits for a 3-week normalization period and were examined for soft tissue abnormalities and baseline measurements of plaque, gingivitis, and tooth stain. 2 additional prophylaxes were then performed, followed by a second baseline gingival examination. Zero plaque was re-established by rubber cup polishing and twice daily rinsing was begun. Soft tissue, plaque, gingivitis, and extrinsic tooth stain were evaluated after 1, 3, 6 and 9 months of rinsing with the randomly assigned mouthrinses. Results demonstrated that Listerine antiseptic significantly reduced the development of plaque at 1, 3, 6 and 9 months and the development of gingivitis at 9 months, as compared to its vehicle control or water control.

Doxycycline is a synthetic tetracycline compound whose main advantages over tetracycline hydrochloride are increased oral absorption, prolonged serum half-life and decreased gastrointestinal side-effects. The purpose of this study was to measure the concentration of doxycycline in gingival fluid and blood after oral administration. 4 volunteers were given doses of 100 mg doxycycline every 12 h on the first day of antibiotic administration followed by a maintenance dose of 100 mg per day for an additional 4 days. 3 of these volunteers were also given tetracycline hydrochloride every 6 h for 5 days either 1 month before or after doxycycline administration to compare gingival fluid levels of these 2 tetracycline compounds. Gingival fluid was sampled from 4 gingival sites in each volunteer at hourly intervals from hours 0 to 6, 9, 24, 27, 48 to 54, 57, 72, 75, 96 to 102 and 105. Blood was sampled by finger puncture at hours 0, 3, 6, 24, 48, 54, 72, 96 and 102. Antibiotic levels in gingival fluid and blood were measured using an agar diffusion assay method. The results demonstrated that doxycycline achieved much higher levels in the gingival fluid than in blood and yielded comparable gingival fluid levels to those achieved by tetracycline hydrochloride. Doxycycline levels in gingival fluid ranged between 1.2 micrograms/ml and 8.1 micrograms/ml in the first 24 h and generally achieved 3-10 micrograms/ml after 48 h. Blood levels after 48 h ranged between 2.1 micrograms/ml and 2.9 micrograms/ml. Tetracycline hydrochloride in gingival fluid after 48 h was generally in the range of 4 micrograms/ml-10 micrograms/ml with blood levels between 2.2 micrograms/ml and 3.4 micrograms/ml.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of clindamycin hydrochloride as an adjunct to conventional periodontal therapy in the treatment of patients who had previously been unsuccessfully treated with scaling, periodontal surgery and the use of tetracycline. Thirteen patients with a history of "refractory" periodontitis were thoroughly scaled and monitored by repeated attachment level measurements for the presence of active destructive periodontitis. Disease activity was defined as a 3-mm loss in attachment from baseline measurements or the occurrence of a periodontal abscess. When active disease was detected, each patient was scaled again and placed on clindamycin hydrochloride 150 mg qid for 7 days. Following the adjunctive use of clindamycin in combination with scaling, the incidence of gingival sites demonstrating active disease in the group of 13 patients decreased from an annual rate of 10.7 to 0.5%. Each patient demonstrated a decreased incidence of active sites per unit of time. Clinical parameters such as probing depth, gingival redness, bleeding on probing and suppuration showed dramatic improvement at 12 months after clindamycin therapy. The percentage of pockets with probing depths greater than 6 mm, 4 to 6 mm and 1 to 3 mm changed from 11 to 2%, 38 to 24% and 51 to 74% respectively, following clindamycin therapy as compared to scaling alone. The percentage of sites bleeding on probing decreased from 33% after scaling alone to 8% following clindamycin and scaling. Gingival redness decreased from 36 to 1% of sites. Suppuration also decreased from 8% of buccal or lingual surfaces after scaling alone to 1% of surfaces following scaling and clindamycin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)