Background: The inflammatory diseases of the supporting structures of the teeth are amongst the most common chronic diseases to affect adult human beings. Oxidative stress plays a key role in affecting the pathophysiology of both the diseases and adjunctive systemic antioxidant therapy may have beneficial effect on the treatment outcome. Among the antioxidants, lycopene is an effective natural antioxidant and exhibits the highest physical quenching rate with singlet oxygen.

Aim: To evaluate, clinical efficacy of orally administered Lycopene as an adjunct to scaling & root planing in plaque induced moderate to severe chronic gingivitis subjects.

Materials and methods: 40 systemically healthy in age range of 18–35 years, showing clinical signs of gingivitis and probing depth of < 4 mm with no evidence of clinical attachment loss were divided into two groups: experimental group (orally administered Lycopene along with scaling and root planing) and control group (only scaling and root planing) . Plaque Index, Gingival Index, Sulcus Bleeding Index were recorded at baseline and after 2 weeks

Results: Significant mean reduction with plaque index scores, gingival index score, sulcus bleeding index score were observed after 2 weeks for experimental and control group (p value <0.01.