Response to Periodontal Therapy in Subjects Who Had Bariatric Surgery

Objectives: to assess if significant weight loss after bariatric surgery would improve the response to periodontal therapy in obese patients who did not have the surgery.

Methods: Thirty obese (BMI >30 kg/m²) subjects affected with chronic periodontitis participated in the study. Of these, 15 subjects had previously undergone bariatric surgery (BS) and lost at least 40% of their excess weight for at least 6 months postsurgery(test group). The other 15 subjects were also obese, but did not have the surgery, nor lost weight (control group). All participants received non-surgical periodontal therapy (scaling and root planing and oral hygiene instructions). Probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), bleeding on probing (BOP), gingival index (GI) and plaque index (PI) were measured at baseline and at 4-6 weeks following the periodontal treatment. Descriptive statistics, linear mixed effects models and linear regression models were used for data analysis.

Results: The mean age of the study participants was 47.1±11.5 years and 36.6% of the participants were males. There was a statistically significant improvement after periodontal therapy in the BS compared to the obese group (P<0.05). The PD had a mean reduction of 0.45mm in the BS group vs. 0.28 mm in the control group. The reduction in: CAL was 0.44mm vs. 0.30mm, percentage of BOP sites was 16 % vs. 15%, and GI was 1.03 vs. 0.52 in the BS and control groups, respectively.

Conclusions:

Weight loss through bariatric surgery appears to have a positive effect on periodontal health and response to non-surgical periodontal therapy.