Dietary supplementation with low-dose omega-3 fatty acids reduces salivary tumor necrosis factor-α levels in patients with chronic periodontitis: a randomized controlled clinical study

Background and Objective: Recent studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on physiological processes and on a variety of chronic inflammatory diseases, including periodontal diseases. In this study, we evaluated the impact of omega-3 PUFAs in conjunction with scaling and root planing (SRP) on salivary markers in patients with chronic periodontitis. Material and Methods: Thirty systemically healthy subjects with chronic periodontitis were enrolled and randomly allocated into two groups. The control group (n = 15) was treated with SRP + placebo whereas the test group was treated with SRP and dietary supplementation of low-dose omega-3 PUFAs (6.25 mg eicosapentaenoic acid and 19.19 mg docosahexaenoic acid). Clinical parameters were taken at baseline, 1, 3 and 6 mo following therapy. Saliva samples were obtained at the same time intervals and analyzed for tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Results: Both groups showed significant changes in clinical parameters in response to treatment compared to baseline with no significant difference between groups. Salivary TNF- a levels showed a statistically significant decrease in the test group at 6 mo compared to the control group. Salivary SOD levels increased significantly at 3 and 6 mo in the test group and at 6 mo in placebo groups compared to baseline with no statistically significant differences between the groups. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that dietary supplementation with low-dose omega-3 PUFAs improves salivary TNF-alpha without any significant impact on clinical parameters in patients with chronic periodontitis, suggesting that the systemic benefits of dietary omega-3 PUFAs may not be translated to periodontal health.