Participants and study design
SYSTEMIC DISEASE, CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS
The study received approval from the Ethics Committee of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences under the ethics code: IR.HUMS.REC.1399.562. The trial has also been registered prospectively at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT), IRCT20201106049289N1, available at This double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial was performed on candidates for pocket elimination surgery referred to the private office of a periodontist in Bandar Abbas, Iran, from April 18 to August 18, 2021. The inclusion criteria were age 18–70 years, chronic periodontitis, completion of phase I periodontal therapy, and PPD ≥ 5 mm. The exclusion criteria were systemic diseases and smoking. Patients who did not attend the office for follow-up were also excluded from the study. Written informed consent was obtained from all the patients. The sample size was calculated as 14 patients in each group based on α = 0.05 and β = 0.1.Patients’ general characteristics, such as age and sex, were recorded. Additionally, periodontal indices including BOP, PI, GI, and PPD were evaluated in all subjects. Then, all patients underwent pocket elimination surgery by a single periodontist. Afterwards, they were randomized into two groups by coin flip. The first group received 500 mg Anaheal capsules (Salamat Parmoon Amin Pharmaceutical Co., Iran) twice a day before meal for one week. The second group received placebo, prepared in similar shape and color by the same pharmaceutical company. Anaheal and placebo were placed in similar bottles (only labeled A and B) by an assistant who was uninvolved in the study. Therefore, the patients, the caregivers, and the outcome assessor were blinded to the received medications. BOP, PI, GI, and PPD were assessed four weeks after completion of the treatment course (five weeks after surgery) by the researcher (outcome assessor).