Local Delivery of Antibiotics

Local Deliv­ery of Antibi­otics – An effec­tive addi­tion to Peri­odon­tal Gum Dis­ease Treatment

It is a well-established fact that peri­odon­tal dis­eases are bac­te­r­ial infec­tions. It is also known that tetra­cy­clines (a type of antibi­otic) are very effec­tive in killing the bac­te­ria respon­si­ble for some peri­odon­tal disease.

For those patients that do not respond well to tra­di­tional ther­apy such as scal­ing and root plan­ing in order to reduce peri­odon­tal pock­ets and bac­te­r­ial infec­tion our peri­odon­tists may admin­is­ter tetracycline-like antibi­otics locally into the peri­odon­tal pock­ets, below the gums.

The Ben­e­fits of Locally Deliv­ered Antibiotics

Local deliv­ery means the antibi­otics are deliv­ered directly to the infected gum areas through sys­tems includ­ing micros­pheres, oral rinses, and gels and fibers which reab­sorb or dis­solve in the mouth. Best of all, local deliv­ery of antibi­otics doesn’t require patients to take antibi­otic pills daily and for long peri­ods of time, which can even­tu­ally lead to the devel­op­ment of bac­te­ria that becomes resis­tant to the antibi­otics, and thus, ineffective.

Antibi­otics deliv­ered locally attack plaque bac­te­ria aid­ing our immune sys­tem in reduc­ing peri­odon­tal pock­ets and peri­odon­tal dis­ease, and allow­ing gums to heal.

Although the local deliv­ery of antibi­otics can be an effec­tive addi­tion to peri­odon­tal dis­ease treat­ment, it is by no means a stand-alone treat­ment and is not for every­one. Our Wood­bridge peri­odon­tists will per­form an eval­u­a­tion at your ini­tial appoint­ment to deter­mine if you are a can­di­date for this therapy.