Decontamination and Biomodification of Periodontally Affected Root Surface for Successful Regeneration: Is There Room for Improvement?

Abstract

Periodontitis is a multifactorial inflammatory condition associated with an oral microbiome dysbiosis that results in gingival inflammation and clinical attachment loss. Periodontal therapies are based on scaling and root planing to disturb the bacterial biofilm mechanically and remove calculus and contaminated cementum. Research does not support the use of root modifiers for decontamination and biomodification of periodontally affected root surfaces. Standardized clinical trials in large populations, assessing biological and patient-reported outcome measures, are necessary to evaluate candidate biomaterials for decontamination and biomodification of periodontally affected root surfaces.

Keywords: Gingival recession; Guided tissue regeneration; Infraosseous defects; Laser; Periodontal diseases; Root conditioning; Root coverage; Root surface decontamination.