If you have gum disease, your dentist is likely to hand you a prescription for a course of antibiotics. But it’s not best practice—and taking some simple supplements could be just as effective.
Omega-3 fish oils and low-dose aspirin work just as well—and the combination doesn’t contribute to antibiotic resistance, researchers from the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital say.
They tested the two approaches on a group of 109 people with severe gum infection, or periodontitis. After a year, infection was dramatically reduced in both groups, and to similar levels.
Around 58 percent of those taking antibiotics for a year had reached the target of having no more than four deep periodontal pockets in the gums, where bacteria accumulate, while 57.57 percent in the fish oils group had achieved the same goal.
Antibiotics is no longer the ‘gold standard’ for treating periodontitis. The drugs can lead to bacterial resistance and they also come with a range of side effects that include a compromised gut microbiome.
Omega-3 is a powerful anti-inflammatory that works differently from drugs, the researchers say. While drugs block inflammatory pathways, omega-3 help the body naturally reduce inflammation and promotes tissue repair. Taking aspirin with the fish oil seemed to amplify the anti-inflammatory effects, the researchers said.
Those taking omega-3 continued to see an improvement in their periodontitis even six months after they stopped taking the supplement, and that could be because the immune system had been ‘taught’ how to fight inflammation, the researchers say.
Their findings echo an earlier study that found that omega-3 supplements reduced inflammation and bone loss in rats that had periodontitis.
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