Evaluation of the effect of 20 mg of doxycycline as an adjunct to scaling and root planing in patients with mild to moderate periodontitis

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to compare some clinical parameters in patients with mild to moderate periodontitis treated by SRP with the use of 20 mg of doxycycline. Materials and Methods: In this randomized double-blind clinical trial, 44 patients with mild to moderate periodontitis were treated with standard SRP therapy. Then the patients randomly received either adjunctive 20 mg of doxycycline or a placebo twice daily for 3 months. Before and after treatment clinical parameters, including periodontal pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), bleeding on probing (BOP) and modified gingival index (MGI), were recorded. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and Mann-Whitney test, paired t-test and chi-squared test (α = 0.05). Results: Clinical parameters of both case and control groups significantly improved during the study (p value < 0.001). Doxycycline-treated group exhibited significantly higher PPD reduction, increased clinical attachment gain, and BOP and MGI reduction compared to the placebo group after 3 months (p value < 0.001). Conclusion: Under the limitations of the present study, 20 mg of doxycycline as an adjunct to SRP resulted in significantly greater clinical benefits compared to SRP alone in the treatment of mild periodontitis. Key words: Dental scaling, Doxycycline, Periodontitis, Root planing