Sustained release of doxycycline for the treatment of peri-implantitis: randomised controlled trial

With the increased use of osseointegrated implants and with many implants functioning for a long time, the treatment of peri-implantitis has become important. Animal studies and clinical case reports have shown that the principle of guided bone regeneration can be applied to the surgical treatment of moderate to profound loss of bone around the implant, but we have found no published clinical studies. Patients and methods: Twenty-eight patients whose ages ranged from 25 to 78 years and who had a total of 48 peri-implant defects were examined at baseline (week 0) and after 18 weeks. This included the recording of bleeding on probing, pocket probing depths, and probing attachment levels at six sites for each tooth. For 2–18 weeks before week 0 all patients had been treated for peri-implantitis, including motivation, instruction in oral hygiene, and implant scaling with a hand plastic instrument. They were then randomly allocated to continue with this treatment or to have in addition mechanical debridement and local application of Atridox™ which slowly release doxycycline. Results: Patients treated with Atridox™ showed a significantly greater gain in mean (S.D.) probing attachment levels than those not treated with Atridox. Only subjects treated with Atridox had a significant gain in mean bleeding on probing (P = 0.001). Application of the biodegradable sustained release device after initial periodontal treatment resulted in a significant gain in mean probing attachment levels in the Atridox™ group and a significant reduction in pocket probing depths. There was also a significant difference in mean probing attachment levels (0.6 mm).