Healthy Plant-based Diet and Periodontal Treatment

Background: Periodontitis is a highly prevalent chronic disease, affecting around 743 million people globally. In Hong Kong, over 90% of adults have bleeding gums, and 50% of the elderly have severe periodontitis. The causes of periodontitis are complex, involving polymicrobial dysbiosis, chronic inflammation, immune response, and environmental factors. Current treatments focus on oral hygiene, biofilm/calculus removal, and surgery for advanced cases. While lifestyle and risk factor modifications can improve treatment outcomes, only a few modifiable factors, like smoking cessation and diabetes control, have been established. Identifying more modifiable risk factors and implementing effective interventions are crucial to address this significant public health issue. Diet has shown to be a major modifiable risk factors in pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. The recent Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) study also supports this by pointing out the key dietary risk factors for chronic diseases and mortality. Nonetheless, the role of dietary intervention in the field of periodontitis is poorly understood. The evidence of a plant-based dietary pattern, defined by a higher consumption of plant foods and lower intake of animal foods, on preventing and treating NCDs is emerging and a "healthy plant-based dietary pattern" is shown to lower risk of periodontitis and elevated serum antibody levels against periodontopathogens. "Healthful plant-based dietary pattern" mainly comprises of high consumption of healthy plant food (e.g., whole grains, fruit and vegetable), but low proportion intake of unhealthy plant food (e.g., refined grains, fruit juices, and sugar-sweetened beverages) . Although the cross-sectional data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) shows promising benefits of the healthful plant-based diet, it is still inconclusive whether "healthful plant-based dietary pattern" is beneficial in preventing and treati