Objectives: The aim of this systematic review was to assess the study design and reporting of studies on periodontal regeneration, with respect to the effect of the provision of non-surgical periodontal therapy (NSPT) before surgery.
Materials and methods: A systematic search of the literature was conducted for studies on periodontal regeneration on Medline and EMBASE, complemented by a manual search. Initially, 3310 potentially eligible articles were identified.
Results: A total of 293 studies were included in the review. Nearly 10% of studies did not include NSPT in the study protocol before regenerative surgery, while 14% of papers did not report this aspect. Seventy-six percent of studies reported that non-surgical subgingival debridement was performed before periodontal surgery (2 weeks to 6 months before surgery according to the different studies). However, no papers reported clinical and radiographic data before and after NSPT prior to periodontal surgery. Only 45% of papers reported timing of reassessment following NSPT, prior to proceeding with regenerative surgery.
Conclusions: This review highlights the lack of reporting information on non-surgical periodontal therapy prior to periodontal regenerative surgery, calling for a revision of the current clinical protocols and of the study designs of periodontal regenerative surgery studies.
Clinical relevance: Periodontal regenerative surgery protocols should take into account the possible effects of non-surgical periodontal therapy in the clinical and radiographic healing of intrabony defects.
Keywords: Intrabony defects; Non-surgical therapy; Periodontitis; Regeneration; Study design.