Clinical comparison of Persica and Chlorhexidine mouthrinses using meta – analysis technique

Clinical comparison of Persica and Chlorhexidine mouthrinses using meta – analysis technique Dr. H. Fallahzadeh* - Dr. A. Moeintaghavi** - Dr. M. Foruzanmehr*** *-Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Statistics Dept.-Faculty of Hygiene-Shaheed Sadoughi Yazd University of Medical Sciences. **- Assistant Professor of Periodontology Dept. - Faculty of Dentistry – Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. *** - Dentist. Background and Aim: Various studies have already been conducted on the comparative effects of Persica ad Chlorhexidine on plaque and gingivitis that, due to the small size of the studied populations, their results have not been statistically significant. The aim of this study was to review such studies systematically through meta – analysis technique to achieve more accurate and significant results.Materials and Methods: In this meta – analysis study, an electronic (Medline, PubMed) and a manual research were made to detect studies evaluating the effects of two mouthrinses in the reduction of plaque and gingivitis. Finally, 9 studies were selected. It should be noted that only clinical trials in adults with mild to moderate gingivitis and acceptable clinical conditions were included. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups (Persica and Chlorhexidine). Plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI) and papillary bleeding index (PBI) were measured and recorded at the baseline and at the end of the study. Only 4 studies with 198 patients were included in the meta – analysis research. The results of these 4 studies were extracted and tabulated as means and standard deviations of clinical indices and analyzed statistically. Using random – effects and fixed – effects models, the results of studies were pooled and the overall effects of two mouthrinses on each clinical index were evaluated. Results: The overall effect estimated for PI was -0.34 and for GI was -0.11 showing that although the effects of Chlorhexidine was better than Persica but the difference was not statistically significant. The estimated PBI was -0.24 revealing significant difference between two mouthrinses with a more considerable effect attributed to Chlorhexidine. Conclusion: It is suggested that the mouthrinse of Persica should be used for short – term treatment of gingival diseases. Key words: Chlorhexidine – Persica – Meta analysis – Systemic Review.