Description
Background: Local antimicrobial therapy has become an established part of the armamentarium for the reduction of plaque and gingival inflammation in the treatment of gingivitis. The inherent limitations of systemic or topical chemotherapies led to the development of local delivery systems for the administration of antimicrobials directly into the periodontal pocket. Objective: The aim is to review the current methods and advances in local drug delivery of antimicrobial agents in periodontal diseases. Results & Conclusion: There is ample evidence to show that locally delivered antimicrobials can reduce clinical and microbial parameters to a level, if not better than, at least comparable to that of scaling and root planing . Mechanical instrumentation, whether in an opened or closed environment, can be technically demanding, time consuming, and in some periodontal defects, ineffective or incomplete. Local drug delivery on the other hand is simple to use and may conceivably in the future be delivered by the patients themselves, hence can be used as an adjunct to mechanical plaque removal.
