title: Comparison of the efficacy of chlorhexidine varnish and chip in the treatment of chronic periodontitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to clinically evaluate the benefits of sub gingival chlorhexidine (CHX) varnish and biodegradable CHX chip application used as an adjunct to scaling and root planning (SRP) as combined therapy and also to compare the effect of combined therapy with SRP alone.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen patients with at least three sites with a probing pocket depth (PPD) of 5-8 mm were considered. Following baseline evaluation, all three sites were subjected for SRP. After completing SRP, each site was randomly subjected for CHX varnish, CHX chip application and the 3(rd) site was left without any medication as a control. Clinical parameters such as sulcus bleeding index, plaque index, bleeding on probing (BOP), PPD, and clinical attachment level (CAL) were recorded at baseline, 1 month and 3 months post-operatively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All three groups presented with an improvement in clinical parameters compared to baseline. The mean reduction in PPD was 2.4 mm in SRP sites, 2.5 mm in SRP + CHX varnish sites and 2.8 mm in SRP + CHX chip sites. The mean gain in CAL was 2.4 mm in SRP sites, 2.3 mm in SRP + CHX varnish sites and 2.8 mm SRP + CHX chip sites.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study indicated that application of CHX varnish and placement of CHX chip as an adjunct to SRP produced a clinically significant reduction in the PPD, BOP and a gain in CAL at 30(th) day and 90(th) day from baseline when compared to SRP alone. The results though were not statistically significant.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences, K. K. Campus, Maggula, Virajpet, South Coorg, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Jagadish Pai
authors.forename: Smitha Anitha
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rajan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Srinivas
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Padma
authors.forename: Girish
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Suragimath
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Walvekar
authors.forename: Saakshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goel
authors.forename: Vinesh
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kamath
keywords: Chlorhexidine chip and scaling and root planning; chlorhexidine varnish; local drug delivery; periodontitis