Effects of probiotic bacterium Weissella cibaria CMU on periodontal health and microbiota: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Weissella cibariaCMU (oraCMU) has been commercially available in the market for several years as oral care probiotics. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of oraCMU-containing tablets on periodontal health and oral microbiota. Methods: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in 92 adults without periodontitis (20-39 years of age). All subjects received dental scaling and root planing, and were randomly assigned to either probiotic or placebo groups. The tablets were administered once daily for 8 weeks. Periodontal clinical parameters included bleeding on probing (BOP), probing depth (PD), gingival index (GI), and plaque index (PI). In addition, microbiota in the gingival sulcus were analysed. Results: BOP improved more in the probiotic group over 8 weeks. There were statistically significant differences in BOP of the maxilla buccal and lingual sites between the groups during the intervention (P < 0.05). No significant inter-group differences in PD, GI, and PI were observed during the intervention. Oral bacteria were observed to be fewer in the probiotic group. There was a significant change in levels ofFusobacterium nucleatumat four and 8 weeks between the two groups. Besides, there were significant differences at 8 weeks in levels ofStaphylococcus aureus. Conclusions: We reported an improvement in BOP and microbial environment and demonstrated the antimicrobial activity of oraCMU againstF. nucleatum. Thus, its supplementation may contribute to overall oral health. Trial registration: Ethical issues approved by the Kangwon National University Institutional Review Board with a number of KWNUIRB- 2018-05-003-005 and CRIS code Number of KCT0005078 were retrospectively registered on 06/02/2020. This study was conducted in the period of July to November 2018.