The change of sulfide levels before and after nonsurgical therapy and its relationship with clinical parameters in patients with periodontitis

Objective To examine the sulfide levels in periodontal pockets of patient with periodontitis and analyze the change of sulfide levels before and after periodontal nonsurgical treatment.Methods Sulfide levels in periodontal pockets of 35 patients with chronic periodontitis were measured before treatment and two weeks,six weeks and three month after treatment.Clinical periodontal parameters including probing depth(PD) and bleeding index(BI) were recorded at each time point.Results Before treatment sulfide levels were related to pocket depth and bleeding index.PD and BI significantly decreased after treatment(P0.05).The detectable frequencies and mean level of sulfide levels also decreased at the three time points after periodontal treatment(P0.05).In the longitudinal observation,a regular variation was found for the levels of intro-pocket sulfide.Conclusion The sulfide levels may be a potential indicator for the severity and activity of periodontal disease,reflecting the correlation with the degree of severity of periodontal disease.The sulfide levels may also be used as a criterion of treatment effect.