ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to compare the clinical response to two regimes of azithromycin use in the complex of non-surgical periodontal therapy. After initial periodontal therapy of chronic generalized periodontitis (CGP), 60 patients were randomly assigned to 3 groups. In group 2 and 3 azithromycin was administered: 500 mg 1 time per day, 3 days, and by 500 mg 1 time per day, 7 days, followed by 500 mg 1 time per week for 12 weeks. Clinical indexes were record before treatment and after 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. After 3 months 13 patients in group 1st had the exacerbation of CGP, and only 1 and 2 patients (p<0.05) in the 2nd and 3rd groups, respectively. After 12 months, significantly fewer patients on the 3rd group (as compared with the 1st (p=0.0015) and the 2nd (p=0.0040) had clinical exacerbation. Unscheduled visits were significantly less in the 3rd group as compared with the 1st (χ(2)=8.03; p=0.0046). The long-term adjunctive azithromycin results in a significantly clinical benefit of 80% patients for 1 year with satisfactory tolerance.
