Effect of scaling and root planing on interleukin‐1β, interleukin‐8 and MMP‐8 levels in gingival crevicular fluid from chronic periodontitis patients

Abstract

There are few data concerning the effect of scaling and root planing on the levels of immune and inflammatory mediators in gingival crevicular fluid from patients with chronic periodontitis. Therefore, in this study the influence of scaling and root planing was determined on amounts of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-8 and MMP-8 in gingival crevicular fluid from patients with chronic periodontitis, in relation to clinical parameters. A total of 51 patients were enrolled in this study. The study population consisted of 30 patients with generalized advanced chronic periodontitis, while 21 periodontally healthy subjects were recruited for the control group. The clinical parameters included approximal plaque index, gingival index, pocket depth and clinical attachment loss. The amounts of IL-1β, IL-8 and MMP-8 in gingival crevicular fluid were measured by ELISA. Periodontal parameters as well as gingival crevicular fluid humoral factor amounts were evaluated in the control group and in chronic periodontitis patients at baseline and at 1 and 4 wk after scaling and root planing treatment. At baseline, there were significant differences between control subjects and chronic periodontitis patients in terms of clinical attachment loss, pocket depth, gingival index (p < 0.001) and approximal plaque index (p < 0.01). The amounts of IL-1β, MMP-8 (p < 0.001) and IL-8 (p < 0.01) in gingival crevicular fluid were significantly lower in healthy subjects than in chronic periodontitis patients. Scaling and root planing led to improvement in all examined clinical parameters, apart from clinical attachment loss. Periodontal treatment also resulted in a significant decrease in the amounts of IL-1β, IL-8 and MMP-8 in comparison to baseline, especially 4 wk after scaling and root planing (p < 0.001); however, the amounts of these humoral factors were still higher than those in control group. Our observations indicated that short-term nonsurgical therapy resulted in a significant improvement in periodontal indices and in a marked decrease of IL-1β, IL-8 and MMP-8 gingival crevicular fluid levels. Nevertheless, no significant correlations were found between clinical parameters and amounts of humoral factors after therapy.