Non-Surgical Periodontal Therapy Could Improve the Periodontal Inflammatory Status in Patients with Periodontitis and Chronic Hepatitis C

Non-surgical periodontal therapy (NSPT) is the first essential step for the management of any periodontitis patient. This study aims to evaluate the impact of NSPT on pro-inflammatory mediators’ regulation and on clinical parameters in periodontitis patients who suffer from chronic hepatitis C. At baseline, selected patients were clinically evaluated for their periodontal status. A subsequent quantitative assessment of C-reactive protein and pentraxin-3 in samples of gingival fluid was performed by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Afterwards, NSPT was performed. Three months after NSPT, the clinical and ELISA assessments were repeated. The results show an improvement of the clinical parameters in periodontitis patients at the three-month recall. In chronic hepatitis C patients with periodontitis, the gingival fluid levels of pro-inflammatory markers reduced significantly. The targeted markers also expressed significant correlations with the clinical parameters used for the assessment of periodontitis’ severity. The results suggest that, while chronic hepatitis C patients exhibited a more negative periodontal status at baseline as compared to non-hepatitis ones, NSPT is effective in decreasing the local periodontal inflammatory reaction and in proving the periodontal status of this type of patients. Given the limitation of the study, periodontal screening and NSPT should be included in the integrated therapeutical approach of chronic hepatitis C patients, for its impact on the local inflammatory response.