Research Article Effects of Gelam Honey (Melaleuca cajuputi) on Alveolar Bone Loss in Experimental Periodontitis N. Hamzah, 1 S. A. Aziz, 1 A. R. Fauzi, 2 Y. A. Mohd Yusof, 3 M. Razali, 1 N. Ibrahim, 4 and B. Baharin 1 1 Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2 Department of Oral Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 4 Department of Oral Medicine and Oral Pathology, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Correspondence should be addressed to N. Hamzah; drshikinhamzah@yahoo.com Received 25 April 2014; Revised 10 August 2014; Accepted 25 September 2014; Published 10 November 2014 Academic Editor: Adrian Kasaj Copyright © 2014 N. Hamzah et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Gelam honey has been shown to exhibit antioxidant and anti-infammatory activities in animal model. Te aim of this study was to determine the efects of Gelam honey (Melaleuca cajuputi) on alveolar bone level in experimental periodontitis. Tirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study and randomly divided into four groups: ligated saline (LS), ligated honey (LH), nonligated saline (NLS), and nonligated honey (NLH). Fifeen days afer supplementation with Gelam honey (3g/kg), the rats were sacrifced and alveolar bone level was determined by radiography and histomorphometry. Te number of osteoclasts was also calculated for all groups. Both radiographic and histomorphometric analyses showed that alveolar bone resorption was severely induced around the ligated molar in the LS and LH groups. Tere was no signifcant diference in alveolar bone level between the LS and LH groups. However, there was a nonsignifcant reduction of osteoclast number by 15.2% in LH group compared to LS group. In the NLH group, there was less alveolar bone resorption and the number of osteoclasts was reduced by 13.2% compared to NLS group. In conclusion, systemically supplemented Gelam honey was shown to have the potential of reducing osteoclast activity in the experimental periodontitis rats, even though the efect on alveolar bone level was not well demonstrated and it warrants further research. 1. Introduction Periodontitis is one of the most common chronic infam- matory diseases among adults worldwide. It is characterized by gingival infammation, periodontal pocket formation, and bacterial plaque formation which lead to alveolar bone destruction and tooth loss. Te pathogenesis of periodon- titis involves the presence of plaque that may initiate local infammatory reaction in a predisposed host, thus evoking edema, cell infux, and release of infammatory mediators which ultimately leads to alveolar bone loss [1]. Among the infammatory mediators, PGE2, Il-1, and TNF- seem to be the important mediators as causative agents of tissue destruction [2]. In periodontal disease, the response of bone to local factors, produced by the infammatory process, changes the bone remodeling balance, with a net efect of alveolar bone resorption and loss of attachment [3]. Alveolar bone resorption can be measured using various methods, that is, radiograph [4], two-dimensional/three- dimensional imaging [5, 6], morphometric method [6], his- tomorphometric method, [7] and immunocytochemistry [8]. Radiographically, alveolar bone loss can be determined by the radiograph density changes usually seen at the interproximal area. Te changes are measured from the cementoenamel Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Dental Surgery Volume 2014, Article ID 907970, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/907970