Title

Subgingival 2% melatonin versus 2% curcumin as adjuncts to scaling and root planing in chronic periodontitis

Authors

Utkarsh Singh, Shruti Gupta*, Deepshikha Singh, Rohit Ranjan, Shikha Verma & Ishatm Dwivedi

Affiliation

Department of Periodontology, Rama Dental College Hospital & Research Centre, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Utkarsh Singh - E-mail: drutkarshsinghsurgeon@gmail.com
Shruti Gupta - E-mail: shrutz26@gmail.com
Deepshikha Singh - E-mail: singhdeepshikha04@gmail.com
Rohit Ranjan - E-mail: drohitperio2611@gmail.com
Shikha Verma - E-mail: vermashikha544@gmail.com
Ishatm Dwivedi - E-mail: dr.mds.id@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received September 1, 2026; Revised September 30, 2026; Accepted September 30, 2026, Published September 30, 2026

Abstract

Chronic periodontitis is a biofilm-induced inflammatory disease in which deep periodontal pockets and intrabony defects may limit the effectiveness of scaling and root planing alone. Therefore, it is of interest to compare the subgingivally delivered 2% melatonin gel and 2% curcumin gel as adjuncts to scaling and root planing in 22 systemically healthy patients contributing 66 periodontal sites, with placebo gel serving as the control. Plaque index, gingival index, probing pocket depth and clinical attachment level were recorded at baseline, 1, 3 and 6 months, while standardized intraoral periapical radiographs were used to assess intrabony defect depth at baseline and 6 months. All groups improved significantly, but melatonin produced the greatest 6-month reductions in plaque index (2.27 ± 0.22 to 1.04 ± 0.22), gingival index (2.32 ± 0.25 to 1.05 ± 0.21), probing pocket depth (6.11 ± 0.57 to 4.92 ± 0.60 mm) and radiographic defect depth (5.95 ± 0.87 to 4.53 ± 0.84 mm), while curcumin also outperformed placebo for inflammatory and radiographic outcomes. Thus, data shows that both natural gels improved non-surgical periodontal outcomes, with 2% melatonin showing the most consistent clinical and radiographic advantage.

Keywords

Chronic periodontitis, curcumin, melatonin, local drug delivery, scaling and root planning (SRP), intrabony defects

Citation

Gupta et al. Bioinformation 22(9): 5642-5646 (2026)

Edited by

Ashwini Dhopte

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.