Full-mouth treatment versus quadrant root surface debridement in the treatment of chronic periodontitis: a systematic review.

Non-surgical periodontal therapy has been proven to be an effective treatment for patients with chronic periodontitis. Conventional non-surgical therapy by debridement of the root surfaces is performed on a quadrant basis with 1-2 week intervals. This time interval may result in re-colonisation by the bacteria of the instrumented pockets and impair healing. Therefore, a new approach of full-mouth non-surgical therapy to be completed within two consecutive days with (full-mouth disinfection) or without (full-mouth debridement) use of oral antiseptics has been suggested. The aim of this review was to compare the clinical outcomes of the three modalities of non-surgical therapy (full-mouth disinfection [FMD], full-mouth debridement [FRp], quadrant scaling and root planing [Q]).