Photodynamic Therapy During Supportive Periodontal Care: Clinical, Microbiologic, Immunoinflammatory, and Patient-centered Performance in a Split-mouth Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: This study investigates the effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) as monotherapy during supportive periodontal therapy.

Methods: A split-mouth, randomized controlled trial was conducted in patients with chronic periodontitis (N = 22) presenting at least three residual pockets (probing depth [PD] ≥5 mm with bleeding on probing [BOP]). The selected sites randomly received the following: 1) PDT; 2) photosensitizer (PS); or 3) scaling and root planing (SRP). At baseline and 3 and 6 months, clinical, microbiologic (real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses), cytokine pattern (multiplexed bead immunoassay), and patient-centered (regarding morbidity) evaluations were performed.

Results: All therapies promoted similar improvements in clinical parameters throughout the study (P <0.05), except that BOP was not reduced in the PS protocol (P >0.05). Lower levels of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans were observed in the PDT and SRP protocols at 3 months when compared with the PS protocol (P <0.05). An inferior frequency detection of Porphyromonas gingivalis was observed in the PDT protocol at 3 and 6 months and in the SRP protocol at 6 months from baseline (P <0.05). In addition, PDT protocol presented inferior frequency of P. gingivalis at 3 months when compared with the other therapies (P <0.05). Only patients in the PDT protocol exhibited augmented levels of anti-inflammatory interleukin (IL)-4 and reduced proinflammatory IL-1β and IL-6 throughout the study (P <0.05). Intergroup analyses showed reduced IL-10 and increased interferon-γ and IL-1β levels in the PS protocol when compared with the other therapies during follow-ups (P <0.05). No differences in morbidity were observed between the therapies (P >0.05), although the need for anesthesia was higher in SRP-treated sites (P <0.05).

Conclusion: PDT as an exclusive therapy may be considered a non-invasive alternative for treating residual pockets, offering advantages in the modulation of cytokines.