Comparison of toluidine blue-mediated photodynamic therapy and conventional scaling treatment for periodontitis in rats.
OBJECTIVE
Periodontitis is a disease caused by bacterial infection accompanied with the inflammation of connected tissues and resorption of alveolar bone. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vivo photosensitization of periodontal bacteria in rats and to compare its efficacy with that of routine scaling and root planing.


METHODS
Periodontitis was developed by submerging ligatures at the subgingival region of maxillary molars in 16 rats. Six weeks later, the infection sites were treated either with 1 mg/mL of toluidine blue plus 12 J/cm2 red laser irradiation, or by routine scaling and root planing. The therapeutic efficacy was assessed by evaluating the reduction of total bacterial flora and histological changes of periodontal tissues.


RESULTS
Significant reduction of total bacterial flora was achieved by both photodynamic therapy and conventional therapy. The signs of inflammation that accompanied periodontitis, such as redness, increased plaque index and gingival index values, bleeding on probing and inflammatory cell infiltration, were greatly reduced without any obvious detectable injury to host tissues. Both photodynamic therapy and conventional therapy showed similar therapeutic results.


CONCLUSIONS
Toluidine blue-mediated photodynamic therapy could effectively treat periodontitis in vivo and has high potential in clinical application.
Qin
Y L
YL
Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China.
Luan
X L
XL
Bi
L J
LJ
Sheng
Y Q
YQ
Zhou
C N
CN
Zhang
Z G
ZG
D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D012534:Dental Scaling; D007834:Lasers; D008297:Male; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology / Q000628:therapy*; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014048:Tolonium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology
D017319:Photosensitizing Agents; D014048:Tolonium Chloride