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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Dent Clin North Am. 2015 Aug 1;59(4):919–933. doi: 10.1016/j.cden.2015.06.011

Table 1.

Characteristics of antibiotics used to treat chronic periodontitis

Agent Half-life
in serum
(hr)		 Action GCF
Level
(µg/ml)		 MIC90
(µg/ml) for
P.
gingivalis 		MIC90
(µg/ml) for
T. forsythia 		MIC90 (µg/ml) for
P. intermedia 		MIC90 (µg/ml) for A.
actinomycetemcomitans
Amoxicillin 1 – 2 bactericidal 3 – 4 <0.016 0.38 0.25 – 1.5 0.4 – 1
Metronidazole 6 – 12 bactericidal 8 – 10 <0.016 0.005 0.032 – 0.25 64 – 96
Azithromycin 40 – 68 bacteriostatic or
bactericidal		 3 – 10 0.094 – 0.5 0.5 – 1 0.25 – 0.4 0.875 – 4
Tetracycline 6 – 8 bacteriostatic 5 – 10 0.023 – 0.25 0.19 2 – 4 0.2 – 1.5
Doxycyline 12 – 22 bacteriostatic 2 – 8 0.047 0.38 0.05 1

Data from Refs 11–19

Abbreviation: MIC90: lowest concentration of an antibiotic at which 90% of bacterial isolates are inhibited