Background: Aim of this research is to verify the efficacy of metronidazole dental gel 25%, used as a topical antibiotic for the treatment of peri-implantitis. The efficacy of the medicine in the starting phase of the disease (mucositis), as well as during peri-implantitis involving bone-bearing loss has been evaluated.
Methods: Twenty patients were chosen as a sample for the study. After careful evaluation of the several protocols concerning peri-implantitis treatment, some diagnostic clinical parameters have been recorded for each patient and metronidazole dental gel 25% (Elyzol Cabon) has been administered in two applications at perimplants pocket (one after a week). For each patient 3 microbiological drawings were made for the evaluation of the bacterial population around the implant site.
Results: From the microbiological examination a decrease of Gram- and an increase of Gram+ which returned in almost all the patients to normal levels have been observed; moreover, in all the patients a gradual decrease of PMN, resolution index of the inflammatory process was obtained, confirmed also by a remarkable improvement of all the observed diagnostic parameters, except for the peri-implants bone radiotransparency which was unchanged.
Conclusions: The research showed that the peri-implant diseases can be positively resolved by using the metronidazole dental gel 25% topical antibiotic. This drug led to a 60-70% decrease of Gram-, and 40-50% increase for Gram+, bringing these back to normal values in almost all the patients. Moreover, a good recovery of the peri-implants soft tissues has been observed.