Scaling and root planing tied to reduced bleeding vs GBM among patients under periodontal maintenance suggests a new study published in the Journal of Periodontology.
This study aimed to compare the clinical efficacy and the patient perception of subgingival debridement with either guided biofilm management (GBM) or conventional scaling and root planing (SRP) during supportive periodontal care (SPC). Forty-one patients in SPC were randomly assigned to either treatment with GBM or SRP every 6 months. The primary outcome was the percentage of bleeding on probing (BoP) at 1 year. Moreover, pocket probing depths (PPD), recession, and furcation involvements were also measured. Full-mouth and specific site analyses were performed at baseline, 6 and 12 months of SPC. Patient comfort was evaluated using a visual analogue scale (VAS) at 12 months.

Results: At 1 year, the mean BoP percentage decreased from 12.2% to 9.0% (p = 0.191) and from 14.7% to 7.9% (p = 0.004) for the GBM and SRP groups, respectively. Furcation involved multirooted teeth but no through-and-through lesions were significantly fewer in the GBM than in the SRP group after 12 months (p = 0.015). The remaining parameters showed a slight improvement in both groups without any statistically significant differences between the two groups after 1 year. Pain evaluation as patient-reported outcome measures (pain evaluation) was in favour (p = 0.347) of the SRP group, while overall satisfaction was similar for both groups. Treatment time was not statistically significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.188). In well-maintained SPC patients, SRP protocols resulted in significant clinical improvements in terms of BoP; however, for the other clinical improvements, similar efficacy for both GBM and SRP was observed.
Reference:
Stähli A, Ferrari J, Schatzmann AS, et al. Clinical evaluation of a novel protocol for supportive periodontal care: A randomized controlled clinical trial. J Periodontol. 2024; 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1002/JPER.23-0527