Thesis & Dissertations

Objective: This is a double blind randomized controlled study to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation as an adjunct therapy to non-surgical periodontal treatment in healthy middle- aged patients with chronic periodontitis. Methods:The study was done at the periodontology clinics of the Faculty of Dentistry at Beirut Arab University - Lebanon .Twenty eight patients with mild to moderate chronic periodontitis were included in this study and were randomized to two groups: test group taking oral vitamin D supplementation 10,000 IU one tablet daily for five days per week for a total duration of 12 weeks and control group taking placebo pills. Both groups were maintained on scaling and root planning sessions. Data was collected at baseline and at three months including the following periodontal parameters: Gingival index (GI), Plaque index (PI), Probing pocket depth (PPD) and Clinical attachment level (CAL). Results: Intra-group analysis showed that both groups had significant improvements in the periodontal parameters. Moreover, analysis comparing ratios of percent decrease in the mean periodontal indices between groups showed a statistically significant decrease among the test group. The ratio of the percent decrease in the mean probing pocket depth in the test group was 3.34 compared to the control group which was the highest decrease noted among all indices. Conclusion: Adjunctive vitamin D supplementation in mild to moderate chronic significantly improves periodontal outcomes relative to scaling and root planning alone. Key words: chronic periodontitis, vitamin D deficiency, periodontal diseases/drug therapy, therapeutic use