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

AIM

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.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

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.

RESULTS

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]).

CONCLUSION

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.