Clinical efficacy of subgingivally-delivered 0.75% boric acid gel as an adjunct to mechanotherapy in chronic periodontitis: A randomized, controlled clinical trial.

AIM: Borinic acid quinoline esters are a recently-identified class of new antibacterial and anti-inflammatory compounds known to inhibit osteoclastic bone resorption. They have proposed to have osteostimulative properties by causing osteoblast differentiation in vivo and in vitro. The purpose of this double-masked, randomized, controlled clinical trial was to evaluate the effects of the subgingival delivery of boric acid gel as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) on clinical and radiographic parameters, and compare this method with SRP plus placebo gel alone in chronic periodontitis (CP) patients. METHODS: Thirty-nine systemically-healthy patients with CP were included in the present study. They were divided into two groups: (a) SRP + 0.75% boric acid gel (BA group); and (b) SRP + placebo gel (placebo group). At baseline, 3 and 6 months after treatment, clinical measurements, including plaque index, modified sulcus bleeding index, probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), intrabony defect depth, and percentage change in radiographic defect depth reduction (DDR%) as radiographic parameters were assessed. RESULTS: The mean PD reduction and mean CAL gain were greater in the BA group than the placebo group at 3 and 6 months. A significantly greater mean percentage of radiographic DDR% was found in the BA group (36.97+/-3.47%) compared to the placebo group (2.88+/-0.89%) after 6 months. CONCLUSION: BA as an adjunct to SRP can provide a new insight into therapeutic strategies for the management of CP, but further clinical evaluations are needed.