Publication

Abstract : Periodontal diseases remain one of the major causes for tooth loss. Untreated periodontal disease could be debilitating for an individual and it could also lead to various other systemic health issues such as diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, and obesity. This would greatly reduce the quality of life of an individual. The loss of tooth structures and an unhealthy periodontium will lead to loss or reduced function of mastication and aesthetics. Treatment of periodontitis is a multistage process which requires intervention by debridement and prevention of microbial load by antimicrobials, delivery of bio-active growth enhancers, providing tissue growth supporting scaffolds, and also tissue growth guiding membranes and/or constructs to properly control the spatio-temporal regeneration of periodontal complex. Chitosan is one such a potential candidate to be used in the periodontal therapy at various stages. The versatility of chitosan to be synthesized into different forms, made into different formulations for easy handling and application by the clinicians, the ability to incorporate multitude of drugs, growth factors, biodegradability, and so forth make it an interesting biomaterial. Some of the chitosan based materials for periodontal therapy include nano formulations, gels, hydrogels, scaffolds, membranes, fibers, and so forth. This chapter reviews recently developed chitosan based materials with different strategies used for enhancing the therapeutic outcomes of periodontal treatment.