Effect of photodynamic therapy on gingival inflammation in patients with thalassemia

To evaluate the role of photodynamic therapy (PDT) as an adjunct to full-mouth ultrasonic scaling (FMUS) in reducing inflammation and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in thalassemia major (TM) patients with gingivitis.

Thirty patients were randomized into two groups; Group A: PDT + FMUS and Group B: FMUS alone. Clinical periodontal parameters including plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), bleeding on probing (BoP) and probing depth (PD) were measured. Levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were estimated using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. All measurements were performed at baseline (T₀), 6 weeks (T₆) and 12 weeks (T₁₂), respectively.

For PI and GI, the reduction in Group A (p < 0.001) was higher than Group B (p < 0.05) at T₁₂. Intra-group comparison between T₆ and T₁₂ showed statistical significance in both the groups (p < 0.01). The inter-group mean differences (Δ_0-6 and Δ_0-12) for both deltas showed statistical significance (p = 0.01). For BoP, no significant differences were seen until the end of T₁₂ in both groups. The BoP in Group A reduced by a significant margin at T₆ and remained less high by the end of T₁₂ compared with group B (p = 0.02). Significant reduction in both IL-6 and TNF-α from T₀ to T₆ were seen in both groups. However, only for TNF-α that the intra-group differences were statistically significantly different from T₀ to T₁₂. The GCF levels of TNF-α in Group A remained less high by the end of T₁₂ compared with group B (p < 0.05).

The adjunctive role of PDT in the reduction of clinical and immunological signs of inflammation in TM patients seem to be effective in the short term.