Evaluation of salivary protein thiol in healthy and diabetic patients with and without chronic periodontitis

Introduction: Oxidative Stress (OS) is implicated in the pathogenesis of many systemic and oral diseases such as periodontal disease. Periodontitis and diabetes are common chronic diseases with bidirectional relationship having increased oxidative stress as primary etiological feature resulting in release of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Antioxidants such as thiol which modulate the ROS production are early products of protein oxidation during oxidative stress. As a result, assessment of thiol during oxidative stress is one of the best measures of primary effects of oxygen radicals.
Aim and Objectives: To evaluate and compare levels of salivary protein thiol in healthy and diabetic patients with and without chronic periodontitis and to correlate it with clinical parameters.
Methodology: A total of 90 subjects were randomly selected and divided into three groups i,e; healthy, type2 diabetes mellitus (TY2DM) patients with and without chronic periodontitis. Unstimulated whole saliva samples of subjects were collected after obtaining consent and analyzed for protein thiols.
Result: Protein thiol levels were found to be significantly decreased in TY2DM patients with chronic periodontitis compared to TY2DM patients without chronic periodontitis and healthy subjects (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Salivary protein thiols can be a appropriate marker of the antioxidant status in chronic periodontitis patients with TY2DM and can be used to predict the prognosis of periodontal disease in diabetic patient.