Review for 10.1186/s12876-025-04181-7 (2025)

Title: Evaluation of the association between periodontitis and inflammatory bowel disease: A
Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Version: 0 Date: 12 May 2025
Reviewer's report:
This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the relationship between
inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC), Crohn's disease (CD), and
periodontitis.  The following two research questions were posed: 1) Do patients diagnosed with
IBD exhibit a higher odds ratio of developing periodontitis compared to individuals without
this condition? 2) What are the distinctions in the risk of periodontitis between individuals
diagnosed with Crohn's disease (CD) and those with ulcerative colitis (UC)? Articles were
searched in seven electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, Embase,
Cochrane Library, and ScienceDirect). This study included eleven articles, ten of which were
meta-analysed. The manuscript contains four keywords, seven figures, four tables, and fifty-two
references. Overall, it is a correct, complete, and well-conducted paper.
General comments
This study highlights that people with IBD are more likely to develop periodontitis than healthy
individuals. UC patients are significantly more susceptible to developing periodontitis than CD
patients. An effective IBD management strategy requires a comprehensive, multidisciplinary
approach, with dentists playing a key role in caring for patients with IBD.
- The study is methodologically well-established. The data management is appropriate according
to the study's approach. The statistical analysis is adequate, although the program used is not
specified. The study quality evaluation was conducted using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS)
checklist.
- The results are well presented, and they are easy to read and interpret. In the discussion section,
the results of this study are adequately contrasted with those obtained by other researchers. A
justifying explanation of the results is also provided. At the end of the manuscript text, there is
an appropriate concluding section.
Study Strengths
- The study was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and
Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.
- The study was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews
(PROSPERO), reference number ID: CRD42024572342.
- The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Isfahan University of
Medical Sciences (code: IR.MUI.RESEARCH.REC.1402.199).
- The authors describe the study's limitations (different definitions of periodontitis, accuracy of
the reported data, influence of smoking, diversity of the studied populations, etc.).
Study Weaknesses
- Although seven main databases were searched, the search tool Google Scholar could also be
used to try to find new articles on this topic.
- In the search strategy, please specify the search fields for the terms (e.g. title, abstract,
keywords, MeSH terms, etc.). In the PubMed search, were MeSH terms considered?
- What statistical software was used in the study? It should be indicated in the manuscript text.
- Reference #52 is only cited in the tables and in the list of references, not in the manuscript
text. Please include it.
- Other minor weaknesses, see below.
Some additional remarks are made on different sections of the manuscript.
Keywords
The manuscript presents four keywords. For keywords, where possible, please use Medical
Subject Headings terms (MeSH Terms). Great! All of them are MeSH terms with some
corrections. Please use the following MeSH terms proposed “inflammatory bowel diseases”
better than “inflammatory bowel disease”; “Crohn disease” rather than “Crohn's disease”
or “colitis, ulcerative” instead of  “ulcerative colitis”. Nevertheless, these suggestions about
keywords are optional, not mandatory.
Discussion
To make text understanding easier, if the author's name appears in the text, place the reference
number immediately after the name, not at the end of the sentence or paragraph.
The names of microorganisms should be italicized.
References
Total number of the manuscript references: 52
The reference format matches the journal’s reference format (Vancouver reference style).
However, the references should be checked carefully to transcribe them accurately. Some
references are incomplete (e.g., numbers 46, 52).
For further information about the reference format proposed by the journal, please consult the
following link: https://bmcgastroenterol.biomedcentral.com/submission-guidelines/preparing-
your-manuscript/review
Figures
Total number of the manuscript figures: 7.
The figures have appropriate figure legends.
Tables
Total number of the manuscript tables: 4.
The tables have appropriate titles and information. Nevertheless, in Table 2, all the reference
numbers appear in square brackets, except for the number 35, which appears in superscript. The
same applies to the number "37" in Table 4. Please check and correct this.
Consider including a table footnote explaining the abbreviations in Tables 3 and 4.