Intermittent Fasting Regimes Reduce Gingival Inflammation: A Three-Arm Clinical Trial

To evaluate the effect of religious Bahá'í dry fasting (BF) or 16:8 time-restricted eating (TRE) compared with a regular diet (CG) on periodontal parameters during a modified experimentally induced gingivitis.

All participants were asked to refrain from oral hygiene (3 sextant) for 9 days (T1-T2) and were followed for a total of 19 days (T3) while adhering to fasting or a regular diet and resuming oral hygiene. The primary outcome was bleeding on probing in the test sextant (BOP_s), Rustogi plaque index (RPI), gingival crevicular fluid (GCF), blood pressure (BP), body weight (BW), HbA1c and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured (T1-T3) and ANCOVA and post hoc comparison were applied.

Sixty-six healthy participants were recruited. Forty-three were randomly assigned to TRE (n = 22) and CG (n = 21), while 23 followed BF, avoiding food and drinks during the day. At T2, BF demonstrated significantly less increase in BOP_s, and GCF increased in CG only. Analysis revealed significant differences in change for BOP_s between BF and CG (-9.48% [-17.18; -1.79]) and BF and TRE (-9.19% [-15.07; -3.32]) as well as for GCF between BF and CG (-0.06 μL [-7.22; -0.66]) and TRE and CG (-0.08 μL [-0.17; -0.00]).

This study indicates beneficial effects of different fasting protocols on oral experimental gingivitis and metabolic parameters, but results are limited by randomisation issues and potential bias in the BF group.