Repurposing Metformin for periodontal disease management as a form of oral-systemic preventive medicine, in non-diabetic (i.e. healthy people) !
…metformin in vivo provided an effective preventive effect on the pathogenesis of the periodontal disease establishment and progression.”
Conclusion
This is the first study to demonstrate that systemic interventions using Metformin in non-diabetic individuals aimed at PD prevention have oral-systemic effects constituting a possible novel form of preventive medicine for oral-systemic disease management.
If someone has gum disease they should try sucking a melatonin pill (in the middle of the night). So that the melatonin spreads around the mouth and can be absorbed by the gums.
I googled your trick there, I never knew the effect on Melatonin and gum, I wish I knew earlier. This site is just awesome, I literally learn something new every single day. Love it.
I found it unintentionally. Suddenly I found my gums had massively improved (on visiting the dental hygienist) and it took some trial and error to work out what was happening. I found that if the night before I has used melatonin sublingually the gum inflammation dropped massively. In fact it was linked to the days I used it to the extent that you could see the difference in the gums. Hence I try to take some every day even if I sleep perfectly well.
It is, however, important to time melatonin use properly (not before you go to sleep) and if you swallow it there will not be a high enough concentration to fix the gum inflammation.
One of the reasons I use melatonin is to increase sleep. Hence the amount I take is influenced by when I wake and where I am in a sleep cycle. What I try to do is to ensure that the serum quantity of melatonin is either static or increasing when I switch from the first cycle that I am awake for into the second. That will then deliver an additional hour or twos sleep.
Last night, for example, I had 5 hours 12 minutes of sleep which did not involve exogenous melatonin. I then took some timed about every 10 or 15 minutes after about half an hour of waking.
This does not always work as exactly planned. I don’t think my dosing figures are much use to guide anyone else.
I have more recently concluded that it is possible that higher levels of melatonin drive higher levels of SHBG. I have only tested that once (remembering I have weekly blood tests) and the result was compatibile with the hypothesis.
Sometimes I will take a smallish (say 10-24 mg) amount of melatonin just after waking and not go back to sleep. However, I think this is a molecule that people need to develop their own experience with.
I would treat it like a “topical formulation” - so something in the range of 0.05%, or 0.1% to 1.0%. This is what I typically see for rapamycin topical formulations.
Thank you for that.
I think I may try 1% since metformin isn’t all that potent, and it’s only a mouthwash that I will be putting out after swishing around my mouth.
I’ll report back on how I go on
I’ve just made up a 1% w/v metformin mouthwash. It has an amine taste (fishy) but not totally repellent. As for results, I’ll have to see what the dentist says at my next checkup.
I made it up as a simple solution as metformin can act as a buffer in solution and didn’t want it interfering with my sodium bicarbonate mouthwash.
Trying out metformin powder mixed with charcoal for a toothbrush. No negative to report, but too soon to tell if improvement. Rapamycin, though, definitely improved my gum health.
Recent research papers demonstrate promising evidence on the use of metformin for periodontal disease prevention and management.
One key 2025 study in the Journal of Periodontology shows that metformin promotes repair of periodontal tissues damaged by experimental periodontitis through inhibiting interleukin-1β activity, reducing inflammation, and restoring the balance between bone formation and resorption. This was demonstrated in a mouse model where metformin enhanced repair of periodontal ligament, alveolar bone, and cementum.
A 2023 clinical trial with non-diabetic patients showed systemic metformin administration before and after non-surgical periodontal treatment significantly reduced acute systemic inflammation and helped prevent bone loss, indicating oral-systemic preventive effects in healthy individuals.
Another research from 2025 found that metformin effectively suppresses inflammatory bone destruction in apical periodontitis by modulating macrophage inflammatory responses and inhibiting key signaling pathways involved in bone resorption.
Additionally, meta-analyses show that locally delivered 1% metformin gel improves clinical periodontal parameters and enhances healing of periodontal defects when used alongside conventional treatments.