Antimicrobial potential of various periodontal surgical dressings

Abstract

Objective: Periodontal surgeries expose surgical wounds to the oral cavity, bringing them into direct contact with the microorganisms present, thus increasing the risk of oral infections. This study evaluated the antimicrobial activity of surgical dressings used in periodontics using distinct methodol-ogies against different microorganisms over several periods. Methods: The microorganisms (Candida albicans, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mutans, and a mixture) were tested using agar diffusion and direct exposure tests. The ANOVA on Ranks test was performed for statisti-cal analysis, followed by the Tukey test. The significance level was set at α = 5%. Results: None of the materials showed inhibition zones against S. aureusand S. mutans. The TECHNEW dressing showed the largest inhibition zones against C. albicans, E. faecalis, and the microorganism mixture. After 1 day, only the TECHNEW and Lysanda dressings showed antimicrobial activity against all microorganisms. After 5 days, only the TECHNEW dressing ef-fectively reduced the tested microorganisms. After 7 days, TECHNEW and COE-PACK dressings showed results similar to the negative control (p>0.05). Conclusions: No material was able to show inhibition zones against all the evaluated microorganisms. Regarding the direct exposure of dressings to microorganisms, only the TECHNEW cement was effective at 1, 5, and 7 days.