ONE-STAGE FULL-MOUTH DISINFECTION

The concept that full-mouth therapy may provide additional clinical benefits beyond quadrant wise therapy seems rational. In this regard, data from several clinical trials by the Leuven group indicated that full-mouth disinfection provided better clinical and microbiological results than quadrant wise therapy. However, when full-mouth disinfection and quadrant wise therapy were compared, it was not possible to determine conclusively if this was due to full-mouth root planing or administered adjunctive chemotherapeutic agents, or a combination of both therapies. Accordingly, it can only be suggested that there was a trend for better clinical results with regard to the reduction of probing depths and gains of clinical attachment with full mouth disinfection.