Periodontal Therapy Associated With Statin: Systematic Review With Meta-analysis

Objectives: This study aimed to systematically review and quantitatively analyze the literature about the adjunct effect of statins on periodontal treatment.
Methods: Three databases were searched for controlled clinical trials that used any locally delivered or systemically statin as a sole adjunctive therapy to mechanical periodontal treatment. Weighted mean differences between baseline and 6 months after periodontal treatment for probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL) and intrabony defect (IBD) were calculated. A high heterogeneity was detected. Therefore, a meta-regression adjusted for type of statin and year of publication was performed.
Results: Fifteen studies were included in the systematic review, and ten studies were included in the meta-analysis. In the meta-regression, the adjunct use of simvastatin, rosuvastatin, and atorvastatin additionally reduced PD in comparison to mechanical periodontal therapy and a placebo gel (2.90±0.35mm, 3.90±0.77mm, 3.06±0.71mm, respectively – P<0.05). Regarding the resolution of IBD, simvastatin and rosuvastatin significantly improved in comparison to control group (0.89±0.35mm and 1.93±0.77mm, respectively – p<0.05). No statistically significant difference was found between the statins for both PD and IBD (p>0.05). Regarding CAL gain, simvastatin provided a statistically significant improvement as compared to the control group (2.02±0.79mm – p=0.043).
Conclusions: In association with mechanical periodontal treatment, the use of statins improved the periodontal parameters. In the quantitative analyses, simvastatin was the only drug that showed additional benefits in all evaluated parameters.