The Study
Omega-3 fatty acids and oral and systemic inflammation: A secondary analysis of a randomized trial in patients with coronary artery disease.
This study gave some people fish oil pills and others none, then checked if their body inflammation went down. It found a difference, so maybe the pills helped — but we can't be 100% sure because we don't know if everyone was blinded or if other things changed too.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
People with heart disease took big fish oil pills every day for 2.5 years and their gums and blood showed less inflammation.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 557 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1These changes are small but statistically significant, suggesting fish oil may help reduce inflammation in the mouth and body, which could support heart and gum health.
- 2Fish oil group had 3.8% lower gum inflammation on the left side (P = .038) and 2.1% lower blood inflammation (P = .021) than the no-pill group.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Journal of the American Dental Association
Year
2026
Authors
Bushra Ahmad, Ralph Daher, Abdulaziz Malik, Y. Jeong, Francine K. Welty
Related Content
Claims (4)
People who brush their teeth with their right hand might be cleaning the left side of their mouth differently, and this could be why a certain inflammatory protein is lower on that side — especially if they're taking fish oil supplements.
Taking a specific type of fish oil supplement every day for two and a half years may help reduce inflammation in the gums and lower a blood marker of body-wide inflammation in people with stable heart disease who are already on statins.
Taking fish oil supplements with EPA and DHA might help people with heart disease have healthier gums and lower their risk of heart problems, because it could reduce inflammation in the body and mouth.
Eating more fish oil fats called EPA and DHA may help lower inflammation in your body and brain.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.