Abstract: PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of subgingival glycine air polishing (GPAP) in the treatment of moderate-mild peri-implantitis. METHODS: Twenty-five patients with peri-implantitis were randomly recruited according to the inclusion and the exclusion criteria. They were divided into conventional scaling treatment group and GPAP treatment group. Periodontal clinical indicators were recorded before treatment(baseline level) and 6 months after treatment. The indicators included modified plaque index (mPLI), bleeding on probing (BOP), modified sulcus bleeding index (mSBI), probing pocket depth (PPD) and attachment level (AL). A periodontal probe (PCP 12) was used for all examinations. SPSS 21.0 software package was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: At the baseline level, clinical periodontal parameters were similar between the experimental group and the control group. Six months after treatment, the overall clinical periodontal index was below the baseline, with significant difference (P<0.05) compared with the baseline and between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: GPAP can improve the efficacy and comfort during treatment of moderate-mild peri-implantitis. However, this improvement may just be short-term, and the long-term efficacy may need a long-term follow-up of larger samples.

Key words: Peri-implantitis, Non-surgical treatment, Subgingival glycine air polishing