The use of doxycycline in periodontology. Histologic in vivo study on mice affected by diabetes mellitus

Delay in wound healing process and periodontal disease are 2 possible complications of diabetes mellitus; in case of periodontitis, surgical therapy is necessary if, due to the anatomical and topographical characteristics of periodontal lesions, it is not technically possible to eliminate all the etiological factors by scaling and root-planing therapy only. This work aimed at analysing the effectiveness of doxycycline hyclate as an accelerator of the healing process in laboratory animals (mice with diabetes mellitus). The results obtained after surgical incision of the oral epithelium in diabetic mice show that the topical application of doxycycline hyclate improves, in terms of reparative response time, the regenerative capacity of tissues analysed. Further studies are suggested to test the topical use of doxycycline hyclate in diabetic patients undergoing a periodontal operation in order to accelerate the wound healing process of the tissues concerned.