Oral hygiene and effects of mechanical periodontal therapy

Introduction: Periodontal diseases together with dental caries are the most frequent pathologies affecting the teeth and surrounding tissues. The main etiological agent is the accumulation of bacterial dental biofilm in the pits and fissures of the teeth and the gingival sulcus. Objective: The present narrative review aimed to synthesize the results of mechanical therapy on oral hygiene when it is indicated in patients with the diagnosis of periodontitis. Material and methods: A descriptive study was conducted. It was based on a critical review of some articles related to mechanical periodontal therapy published in databases such as Scopus, SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online), PubMed/ MEDLINE and ScienceDirect. Google search engine was also used. A free search for information was carried out in each database. An age limit of 10 years was established for the analysis of both old and current sources. Results: The initial search included 678 articles. Of these, 52 studies that compared oral hygiene techniques as well as systematic reviews that synthesized the effect of mechanical periodontal therapy were included. Conclusions: Periodontal treatment should be considered as the initial therapy for the treatment of periodontitis. It should include oral hygiene instructions for the control of dental biofilm and mechanical debridement of the affected areas. A specific manual brushing technique has not been proven to bebetter than others; therefore, the one that can best be performed by the patient should be used. There was no proven evidence that effective flossing reduces dental biofilm indexes and gingival parameters due to the patient difficulty to adequately perform the technique.