ObjectivesThis study was conducted to determine the effects of both cigarette smoking and exercise on total salivary antioxidants and their impact on periodontal health status.Material & methodsthe study group consisted of 120 males, 20–25 years old selected from patients at the College of Dentistry/University of Baghdad. The sample was classified into four groups: cigarettes smokers who exercised, cigarettes smokers who did not exercise, non-smokers who exercised, and non-smokers who did not exercise. The smokers smoked 5–15 Oriental tobacco cigarettes daily for 3–5 years and did not use other types of tobacco. Physical exercises were performed for a half-hour to an hour daily either at home or the gym. Stimulated saliva was collected under standardised conditions and chemically analysed to determine the total salivary antioxidants concentration using a Total Antioxidant Capacity Assay Kit. The periodontal component of the Periodontal Disease Index (PDI) was applied to diagnose and record periodontal health status. Data were analysed using SPSS version 19.ResultsThe total salivary antioxidant concentrations were significantly higher among the non-smokers than the smokers and were significantly higher among those who exercised compared to those who did not exercised (P < 0.01). The mean of the periodontal index was significantly higher in the group of smokers than the group of non-smokers and significantly higher among those who did not exercise compared to those who exercised (P < 0.01). Smoking and physical exercises recorded a significant effect on total salivary antioxidants and the mean of the periodontal index (p < 0.01), but there was no significant interaction between these two variables for total salivary antioxidants or the mean of the periodontal index (P > 0.05). Person's correlation coefficient indicated significant negative correlations between the mean of the periodontal index and the total salivary antioxidant concentrations among the four studied groups.ConclusionCigarette smoking and physical exercise may alter total salivary antioxidants activity and the periodontal health status. However, there is no interaction between cigarette smoking and physical exercise regarding total salivary antioxidants and the periodontal health status. Total salivary antioxidants correlated inversely with the periodontal health status and this correlation was not affected by cigarette smoking or physical exercise.

Introduction Early childhood caries is a multifactorial disease. Saliva plays an important role in initiation and protection against caries, and its composition is greatly affected by nutritional status. This study was conducted to determine the impact of salivary lactoperoxidase and histatin-5 on the severity of ECC in relation to nutritional status. Materials and methods The sample consisted of 120 children aged 5 years, classified into eight groups: mild ECC in underweight children, mild ECC in normalweight children, moderate ECC in underweight children, moderate in ECC normal weight children, severe ECC in underweight children, severe ECC in normalweight, caries-free (control) underweight children and caries-free normalweight children. Each group consisted of 15 children. Stimulated saliva was collected. Salivary lactoperoxidase was analysed using Human LPO/ Lactoperoxidase ELISA Kit (CLIA)-LS-F29892, and salivary histatin-5 was analysed using Human Histatin-5 ELISA Kit MBS705083_48T. Results Lactoperoxidase and histatin-5 concentrations were significantly higher in caries-free children than in children with ECC, and they were higher in children with mild ECC than in children with moderate ECC or in children with severe ECC. They were significantly higher among children with normal weight than among those who were underweight (p < 0.01). ECC and nutritional status recorded non-significant interactions with both LPO and HST-5 (p > 0.01), but there was significant interaction between these two variables and LPO and HST-5 together (p < 0.01). The Pearson's correlation coefficient test recorded significant negative correlations between ECC severity and both salivary lactoperoxidase and histatin-5 among the eight study groups, whereas significant positive correlations were recorded between BMI values and both salivary lactoperoxidase and histatin-5 among the eight study groups. Conclusion Salivary lactoperoxidase and histatin-5 may be affected by nutritional status, and these two parameters may play an important role in caries prevention at high concentrations. There is interaction between these two parameters and ECC severity and nutrition.

No abstract

Background: Nutritional status during childhood is very important for individual development and growth. Nutrition has local and systemic effect on the oral health by affecting dental health and salivary composition. This study was aimed to determine effect of iron, sodium and potassium ions in saliva on the nutritional status and to determine the effect of nutritional status on caries severity among preschool children. Material and Methods: The sample consists of 90 children aged 4 and 5 years of both genders, selected from 6 kindergartens in Al-Resafa aspect of Baghdad province. Children classified according to their nutritional status into three groups (normalweight, underweight and overweight). Nutritional status was determined by using body mass index BMI that achieved from height and weight (weight (Kg)/height (m) 2). Assessment and recording of caries experience was done by the application of decayed, missing, filled index (dmfs for primary teeth). The diagnosis of dental caries was done according to (d1-4 mfs) criteria for primary teeth. Stimulated saliva was collected from children between 9-11 AM under standardized conditions and chemically analyzed to determine the concentration of iron, sodium and potassium calorimetrically by using ready-made kits and spectrophotometer machine. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 19. Results: Concentration of sodium, potassium and iron ions were (46.64 mg/dl ± 18.00, 31.22 mg/dl ± 9.84, 17.76µg/dl ± 3.17) respectively. From the elements measured in saliva only sodium ions recorded statistically significant difference among the three groups of nutritional status. By application of LSD, the significant difference was found to be between normal weight and overweight groups (46.33 mg/dl ± 17.18, 40.64 mg/dl ± 14.79) respectively (P<0.05). Furthermore, positive and statistically significant correlations were recorded between sodium ions with BMI mean of overweight group on one hand (r=-0.125, P<0.05) and iron ions and normal weight group on other hand (r=0.362, P<0.05). Recording and diagnosis of dental caries showed that means of ds, ms, dmfs, d2s and d4s were significantly higher among children aged 5 years than those aged 4 years. In addition to that means of ds, ms, dmfs and d2s were significantly differ among the three groups of nutrition. Application of LSD test showed that those means were higher among underweight group than others. Conclusion: Concentration of sodium ions in saliva changed according to nutritional status. On the other hand nutritional status may affect caries severity, where underweight children suffering from dental caries more than normalweight and overweight children.

Background:There is an increased oxidative stress during pregnancy that might affect their gingival health. This study was conducted to measure salivary protein carbonyl level of pregnant women and its relation with gingival health also compared the data obtained with those from healthy married non-pregnant women. Material and Methods: Thirty pregnant women during third trimester (i.e. study group) and thirty married non-pregnant women (i.e. control group) were selected from the Primary Health Care Centers in Baghdad city. The age range of both groups was 25-30 years. Stimulated saliva was collected and salivary protein carbonyl was analyzed using protein carbonyl assay kit. Plaque index (PlI) was used for measuring dental plaque thickness while gingival index (GI) was used for diagnosis of gingival disease. Results: The mean values of salivary protein carbonyl, plaque and gingival indices were highly significantly higher among pregnant than non-pregnant women (P˂0.01). Person's correlation coefficient showed positive strong highly significant correlation (P˂0.01) between plaque accumulation and gingivitis among pregnant and non-pregnant women. While non-significant correlations (P>0.05) were recorded between salivary protein carbonyl levels with both gingival and dental plaque indices among both pregnant and non-pregnant women. Conclusion: Although dental plaque is the main etiological factor in pregnancy gingivitis, protein oxidation represented by salivary protein carbonyl level could play a role in gingival inflammation during pregnancy. Therefore examining the proteomic profile along with protein oxidation is recommended that helps in early detection and monitoring of periodontal infection during pregnancy.