Efficacy of probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri on chronic generalised periodontitis: A systematic review of randomized controlled clinical trials in humans

Abstract

It is well recognized fact that periodontal diseases are caused by multifactorial etiologies; in which microorganisms play an important role. An essential component of therapy is to eliminate or manage these pathogens. This has been traditionally accomplished through mechanical means by scaling and root planning and adjunctive anti-infective therapy, which includes local and systemic antimicrobials. But the unwarranted use of antimicrobial is associated with adverse effects and development of resistance. To overcome these problems newer technologies have been tested in the field of periodontics; one of these therapies is use of probiotic. This approach of therapy is of interest to periodontist due to the aforementioned shortcomings of conventional methods. A manual and electronic search was made for human studies up to November 2020 that presented systemic and local use of probiotics in generalised chronic periodontitis. A systematic approach was followed by two independent reviewers and included eligibility criteria for study inclusion, quality assessment, and determination of outcome measures, data extraction, data synthesis, and drawing of conclusion. Only 3 randomized controlled human trials qualified, and they concluded that use of probiotic Lactobacillus Reuteri proves beneficial in improving clinical and microbiological parameters in generalised chronic periodontitis.