Full mouth disinfection

Full mouth disinfection typically refers to an intense course of treatment for periodontitis typically involving scaling and root planing in combination with adjunctive use of local antimicrobial adjuncts to periodontal treatment such as chlorhexidine in various ways of application. The aim is to complete debridement of all periodontal pocket areas with in a short time frame such as 24 hours, in order to minimize the chance of reinfection of the pockets with pathogens coming from another oral niches like the tongue, tonsils and non-trated periodontal pocket.

There is some limited evidence of benefit over and above standard treatment regimens, but the clinical significance of this is not yet known.