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

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).