Background and objective: To assess the effects of the flapless application of enamel matrix derivative (EMD) in combination with non-surgical periodontal treatment (NSPT) when compared to non-surgical periodontal treatment alone in adult patients.
Material and methods: An electronic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE, Scopus and Cochrane Library up to March 2021 complemented by a manual search. Human longitudinal studies of >5 participants and at least 3 months follow-up were eligible for inclusion in the review. Clinical outcomes were extracted and pooled. Meta-analysis of the included studies was not possible due to methodological differences.
Results: A total of 1199 publications were identified and reviewed for eligibility. Nine of them fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Eight studies were randomized clinical trials. The clinical findings of the majority of the included studies demonstrated that the adjunctive use of EMD with NSPT could lead to significantly improved treatment outcomes including higher PPD reduction, more CAL gain, more robust BOP reduction, higher number of sites with PPD < 5 mm and more frequent pocket closure which reduces the need for further periodontal surgical treatment. Limited biological, microbiological and histological findings were reported. Minimal adverse events were observed.
Conclusion: The flapless application of EMD during NSPT leads to an improved clinical outcome in regards to CAL gain and PPD reduction when compared to conventional treatment alone. The potential effect on the biological and microbiological outcome is unclear.
Keywords: enamel matrix derivative; periodontitis; scaling and root planing; systematic review.
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