The effect of green tea as an adjunct to scaling and root planing in non-surgical periodontitis therapy: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE

To provide a systematic overview on the efficacy of green tea catechin as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) in terms of probing pocket depth (PPD).

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A systematic literature search was performed using electronic databases in PubMed, Scopus, Medline, Cochrane, CINAHL, and Web of Science on randomized clinical trials up to January 2017. The research question was posed in accordance with PRISMA guidelines.

RESULTS

The search provided 234 studies. After analyzing the full texts, five studies were included, with four studies qualifying for meta-analysis. Mean PPD reduction was significantly higher (α = 0.05) when green tea catechin was used as an adjunct to SRP (test group) than with SRP alone (control group). The difference in the reduction was 0.74 mm [0.35-1.13; 95% CI].

CONCLUSION

The local application of green tea catechin as an adjunct to SRP may result in a beneficial reduction in PPD. Due to the highly heterogeneous data and some risk of bias, however, this data still needs to be interpreted with caution.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The finding suggests that green tea catechin may be a topical adjunct to SRP without negative side effects.