Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of periodontal surgery on PGE2 levels in patients treated for advanced adult periodontitis, with and without application of a 25% metronidazole gel over 12 months follow-up.
Material and methods: The trial employed a randomised controlled, single-blind, parallel arm design on 43 patients with at least 1 pocket probing > or =6 mm with bleeding on probing (BOP).
Results: The results showed that GCF PGE2 levels showed no significant change following surgical therapy despite marked improvements in clinical periodontal health (p=0.653). No significant differences in the reaction of sites to treatment were detected between test and control groups throughout the study (p=0.709). However, PGE2 levels in GCF were significantly higher in experimental sites compared with healthy untreated sites (negative controls) in both surgery only (p= 0.001) and surgery+gel (p=0.023) groups throughout the study.
Conclusion: Whilst clear differences were observed between healthy control sites and sites with periodontal breakdown, no effect of treatment on PGE2 levels was discernible in this study.