Abstract
Objectives: Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease with a multifactorial etiology. In the literature, numerous adjuvant treatments have been introduced for the treatment of this pathology. Recently, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been shown to have anti-inflammatory therapeutic properties in chronic inflammatory diseases, including periodontitis.The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of 6 months dietary supplementation with Omega 3, α-linolenic acid (ALA) and PUFAs (Freia Alfalife Farmaceutici Srl)following Scaling and Root Planning (SRP) in patients affected by chronic periodontitis. Methods: Twenty-four participants with moderate chronic periodontitis were enrolled in our randomised, placebo-controlled trial. The control group (CG=12) was treated with SRP and given a placebo; the treatment group (TG=12) was treated with SRP and dietary supplementation of 3g daily of alphalife (Freia Farmaceutici Srl). Probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), bleeding on probing (BOP) and modified sulcus bleeding index (SBI) were recorded at baseline and after 6 months. Results: CAL, PD, BOP and SBI were significantly improved in both groups after 6 months (p< 0.001). After 6 months CAL improved significantly better in the test than in the control group (p< 0.001), also PD in the tendency (p = 0.1). BOP improved better in the test group after 6 months (p = 0.065). Conclusion: Our results suggest PUFAs can significantly reduce periodontal parameters following SRP. Therefore, dietary supplementation may have potential benefits in the treatment of patients with chronic periodontitis. Keywords α-linolenic acid (ALA);Adjuvant treatment;Chronic periodontitis;Dietary Supplements;Omega-3;Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs).
Highlights
Periodontitis is a multifactorial inflammatory chronic disease that leads to the irreversible destruction of the supporting tissues resulting in tooth loss and contribution to the development of various systemic diseases [1,2]
Dietary Supplementation with Omega-3 Alpha-Linoleic Acid and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (Pufas): A New Therapeutic Protocol Additional to Scaling and Root Planing in the Treatment of Chronic Periodontitis: A 6 Months Follow Up arachidonic acid metabolites and proteolytic enzymes) and angiogenetic mediators and numerous cell populations [4,5,6]
These results are in agreement with those obtained by Deore et al in which 60 patients were divided into two groups: the test one underwent Scaling and Root Planning (SRP) and daily administration of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) while the control one only SRP [36]
Summary
Periodontitis is a multifactorial inflammatory chronic disease that leads to the irreversible destruction of the supporting tissues (i.e., gingiva, periodontal ligament and alveolar bone) resulting in tooth loss and contribution to the development of various systemic diseases [1,2]. Due to the proven anti-inflammatory properties, some studies in the literature have experimented PUFAs dietary supplementation as an adjuvant therapy to SRP in patients with chronic periodontitis, obtaining conflicting results. This new approach avoids the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which can be administered in a limited way and have well documented side effects [20,21,22]. Following the numerous works in the literature, the aim of this pilot study was to investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of a dietary supplement with α-linolenic Omega 3 (ALA) and PUFAs (alphalifeFreiaFarmaceuticisrl, Figure 1) in addition to Scaling Root Planing (SRP) for 6 months in the treatment of chronic periodontal disease
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