Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the study subjects
| Treatments* | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | p | |
| n | 26 | 19 | 25 | 22 | 28 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 0.44 |
| Age (years) | 50±12 | 54±12 | 54±11 | 54±9 | 53±7 | 50±10 | 50±10 | 55±12 | 0.39 |
| Americans (n) | 14 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 0.99 |
| Females (n) | 13 | 8 | 13 | 9 | 15 | 10 | 15 | 13 | 0.78 |
|
|
|||||||||
| Smoking status – number (%) | |||||||||
| Current smoker | 9 (35) | 8 (42) | 11 (44) | 7 (32) | 14 (50) | 10 (38) | 8 (32) | 11 (44) | 0.91 |
|
|
|||||||||
| Mean log counts | |||||||||
| Red | 13.7±2.4 | 13.5±2.9 | 13.2±3.1 | 13.7±2.6 | 13.4±3.2 | 13.7±2.7 | 13.6±2.1 | 13.6±2.1 | 0.55 |
| Orange | 14.7±1.7 | 14.7±1.8 | 15.0±1.5 | 14.6±1.9 | 14.5±2.0 | 14.8±1.9 | 14.7±1.9 | 14.9±1.5 | 0.41 |
| Actinomyces | 13.2±2.7 | 13.8±1.7 | 13.4±2.8 | 13.4±2.9 | 13.5±2.3 | 13.3±2.9 | 13.5±2.2 | 13.6±2.4 | 0.43 |
| Yellow | 12.2±2.9 | 10.9±3.5 | 11.5±3.3 | 11.6±3.0 | 11.8±3.2 | 11.8±3.0 | 12.3±2.5 | 12.0±2.5 | 0.52 |
| Purple | 12.2±3.0 | 12.6±2.3 | 12.7±2.3 | 12.1±3.1 | 12.2±3.0 | 11.9±3.2 | 12.3±2.6 | 12.6±2.7 | 0.16 |
| Green | 13.4±2.4 | 13.9±1.5 | 13.4±2.4 | 13.4±2.5 | 13.3±2.3 | 13.3±2.3 | 13.5±1.9 | 13.5±2.4 | 0.31 |
|
|
|||||||||
| Percentage of sites with | |||||||||
| Plaque | 23.6 | 37.5 | 26.8 | 32.4 | 336.6 | 27.1 | 32.8 | 37.8 | |
| Gingival redness | 33.5 | 34.3 | 33.9 | 32.6 | 38.3 | 33.5 | 27.8 | 40.0 | |
| Bleeding on probing | 50.0 | 34.9 | 32.6 | 41.9 | 32.3 | 26.2 | 44.4 | 37.2 | |
| Mean PD (mm) | 6.4±1.3 | 6.6±1.8 | 6.4±1.3 | 6.5±1.3 | 6.8±1.8 | 6.5±1.5 | 6.5±1.3 | 6.6±1.6 | 0.61 |
| Mean CAL (mm) | 6.0±2.4 | 5.9±2.5 | 6.3±2.0 | 6.0±1.8 | 6.7±2.3 | 6.9±2.3 | 6.0±1.7 | 6.7±2.5 | 0.29 |
| Number of missing teeth | 6.6±5.6 | 6.8±5.2 | 7.3±4.7 | 7.8±4.8 | 6.6±5.6 | 7.3±5.8 | 7.9±4.5 | 8.2±5.1 | 0.82 |
The eight treatments were:
1. Scaling and root planing (SRP).
2. SRP+surgery (SURG), systemic amoxicillin (AMOX)+metronidazole (MET).
3. SRP+SURG + locally delivered tetracycline (TET).
4. SRP+SURG.
5. SRP+systemic AMOX+MET and local TET.
6. SRP+systemic AMOX+MET.
7. SRP+locally delivered TET.
8. SRP+SURG+AMOX+MET+locally delivered TET.
Plus/minus values are mean±standard deviations.
There were no significant baseline differences between patients who were in the control group (SRP) and those receiving other treatments as evidenced by the large p-values. Box-plots for the mean distribution of the natural log counts of Actinomyces and red, orange, yellow, purple, and green complexes are given in Figs. 1A, 2A, 3A, S1A, S2A, and S3A, respectively.