Effect of nonsurgical periodontal therapy on salivary melatonin levels in patients with periodontal disease

CONTEXT: Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease in which periodontal tissues are damaged as a result of an imbalance in the oxidant/antioxidant systems. Melatonin is one hormone that controls circadian rhythms and is also an antioxidant and immune modulator. AIM: The present study was aimed to evaluate the effect of scaling and root planing (SRP) on salivary melatonin levels (SM) in patients with periodontal disease. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A single-center clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of SRP on SM levels in patients with periodontal disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-five participants of age 30–60 years were equally divided into three groups: 15 healthy participants, 15 participants with gingivitis, and 15 participants with periodontitis. Unstimulated salivary samples were collected from all the participants at baseline and 1 month after SRP from participants of gingivitis and periodontitis group and SM levels were determined by commercially available ELISA kit. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Group comparisons were made using t-test. The level of significance was set at a P < 0.05 for all tests. RESULTS: SM levels were significantly lower in the chronic periodontitis group. There was a significant improvement in clinical parameters and SM levels in both chronic periodontitis and gingivitis groups after SRP. CONCLUSION: This study determined that there is a negative correlation between SM levels and the severity of periodontal disease and showed a significant increase in SM levels after SRP, suggesting that melatonin might have a protective role against periodontal disease and can be considered as an effective biomarker.