Non Surgical Therapy of Periodontitis in Diabetes Patients: the Adjunctive Use of Probiotics

The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical and microbiological performance of a probiotic formulation (Sunstar GUM Periobalance) as adjunctive to non-surgical periodontal therapy in patients with diabetes. The null hypothesis is that the adjunctive use of this probiotic formulation would not have any additional benefit over scaling and root planning in the number of residual pockets or in the microbiological impact of the treatment. Conversely, the alternative hypothesis is that the adjunctive use of this formulation would improve the clinical results of non-surgical periodontal therapy when compared to scaling and root planing alone, through a modification of the subgingival biofilm composition.