The purpose of this randomized single-blind controlled trial was to elucidate the clinical and antimicrobial effects of daily phototherapy (PT) as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) in patients with chronic periodontitis.

The study was conducted from December 2013 to May 2014 at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, Korea. Forty-one patients with mild to moderate chronic periodontitis were randomly divided into two therapeutic groups in a 1:1 ratio: SRP+PT and SRP (control) groups. All participants underwent full-mouth SRP. PT was performed thrice a day for a month by using electric toothbrushes with embedded light-emitting diodes. Plaque index, gingival index, probing pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL), and bleeding on probing were assessed before (baseline) and four weeks after (follow-up) the treatment. Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans , Porphyromonas gingivalis , Tannerella forsythia , Treponema denticola , Prevotella intermedia , Fusobacterium nucleatum , Parvimonas micra , Campylobacter rectus , Eikenella corrodens , Streptococcus mutans , and Streptococcus sobrinus levels were detected by a real-time polymerase chain reaction at the same points in time.

The clinical parameters improved in both the groups. At the follow-up assessment, PPD was significantly decreased in the SRP+PT group ( P =0.00). Further, PPD and CAL showed significantly greater changes in the SRP+PT group than in the SRP group (PPD, P =0.03; CAL, P =0.04). P. gingivalis and T. forsythia levels decreased in this group, but no significant intergroup differences were noted.

Adjunctive PT seems to have clinical benefits, but evidence of its antimicrobial effects is not sufficient. Long-term studies are necessary to develop the most effective PT protocol and compare the effectiveness of PT with and without exogenous photosensitizers.