Woelber J P, Gebhardt D, Hujoel P P. Free sugars and gingival inflammation: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Clin Periodontol 2023; DOI: 10.1111/jcpe.13831. Online ahead of print.

Restriction of free sugars was associated with statistically significantly improved gingival health scores and a trend towards lower dental plaque scores.

This study investigated the effect of free sugar consumption on gingival inflammation using a systematic review and meta-analysis based on the PICO question 'What impact does the restriction of free sugars have on the inflammation of gingival tissue?' Literature review and analyses incuded controlled clinical studies reporting on free sugar interventions and gingival inflammation. Of the 1,777 primarily identified studies, 1,768 were excluded, and nine studies with 209 participants with gingival inflammation measures were included. Six of these studies reported on the dental plaque scores of 113 participants. Restriction of free sugars, when compared with no such restriction, was associated with statistically significantly improved gingival health scores and a trend towards lower dental plaque scores. The observed improvement of gingival inflammation scores with restricted consumption of free sugar was robust against various statistical imputations.