Vector^TM-system In Chronic Periodontal Maintenance Therapy: Clinical Efficacy And Perception Of Pain

Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy and perception of pain during chronicperiodontal maintenance treatment using Vector^TM-system and Gracey hand instrument.Methods: Thirty-five maintenance patients were selected. Oral hygiene instruction andsupragingival scaling were firstly performed. One week later, they received subgingivalscaling using both the Vector^TM-system and Gracey instruments in a split mouth design. Atbaseline, three month after treatment, PLI、PD、CAL and BOP were measured andrecorded. Patients were asked to report perceived pain during instrumentation with averbal analogue scale immediately after treatment. Results: Vector^TM-system and Graceyhand instruments all showed an improvement in clinical parameters and clinical index allimproved in two instrumentation groups from baseline to month3（P＜0.01）； nostatistically significant differences in PD、CAL and BOP could be observed between areastreated by two methods（P＞0.05），while PLI had greater improvement in patients treatedby Vector^TM-system（P＜0.05）.The patients perceived less pain with Vector^TM-system thanGracey hand instrument，the two groups in the VAS scores were statistically significant（P＜0.01）.Conclusions:Vector^TM-system and Gracey instrument all had good clinical effecton the treatment of chronic periodontal maintenance, and Vector^TM-system could reducedpain sensations, and beneficial to patient compliance for periodontal maintenancetreatment.