Investigation of the salivary antioxidants and oxidative damage among smokers and non-smokers with dental caries

Background: Salivary oxidative stress is thought to be involved in the progression of dental caries. However, evidence from previous studies provides equivocal results with some data supported the link between dental caries and salivary oxidative stress, while others did not find any relationship. Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the levels of salivary oxidative stress among smokers and non-smokers with dental caries. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: One hundred adult males, who visited the Conservative and Operative Clinics at the College of Dentistry, Babylon University, Iraq for the period from November 2021 until April 2022, were recruited in this study and were randomly subdivided into three groups; G1: smokers with dental caries, N = 35; G2: non-smokers with dental caries, N = 35; G3: non-smokers without dental caries (control), N = 30. Markers of salivary total antioxidants (TAC) and Malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured in all studied groups. The potential correlations between these markers and other factors such as smoking duration, number of smoked cigarettes per day, and subject's age were also measured. Result: The levels of TAC were significantly (P = 0.01) greater in patients with dental caries compared to those levels in a control group, while the levels of salivary MDA were not significantly (P ≥ 0.05) differed among all studied groups. Smoking had no significant (P ≥ 0.05) effects on both markers of oxidative stress (TAC and MDA). All measured correlations between makers of oxidative stress and smoking duration, number of smoked cigarettes per day, and subject's age were insignificant (P ≥ 0.05). Conclusions: Salivary antioxidants may be involved in the progression of dental caries. However, further studies are needed to establish whether markers of oxidative stress (TAC and MDA) are the causes or results of dental caries.