Omega-3 Fatty Acids Improve the Effect of Active Periodontal Therapy

Objectives: Host Modulatory Therapy (HMT) with ω-3 fatty acids aims at reducing inflammation. Some studies have mentioned the positive effect of using ω-3 fatty acids as an adjunct to nonsurgical periodontal therapy. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the effects of ω-3 fatty acids as an adjunct on nonsugical periodontal therapy on probing pocket depth (PPD) and clinical attachment level (CAL) are evaluated.
Methods: MEDLINE-PubMed and Cochrane-CENTRAL libraries were searched for RCT’s, treating chronic periodontitis patients with SRP/placebo as controls and SRP/ω-3 fatty acids as a test group. The search was conducted up to October 2019.
Results: The search identified 89 abstracts. Screening and full reading resulted in 8 eligible publications. Descriptive analysis showed a significant effect on PPD and CAL, in favor of the groups using of ω-3 fatty acids in the majority of comparisons. Meta-analysis revealed that adjunctive use of ω-3 fatty acids to SRP resulted in 0.73 mm more PPD reduction (95%CI: -1.16; -0.30) and 0.51 mm more CAL gain (95%CI:-0.90; -0.13) than SRP alone after nonsugical periodontal therapy.
Conclusions: In patients with chronic periodontitis, dietary supplementation with ω-3 fatty acids as an adjunct to SRP is more effective in reducing PPD and improving CAL than SRP alone.