Salivary nitric oxide as biomarker of caries risk in children/ Salivarni dusikov oksid kao biomarker rizika za karijes kod djece

Purpose: Dental caries is an infectious process, caused by bacteria, with an increasing incidence in developing countries. The significant factors in caries could be the elements of salivary defense system, i.e. organic and inorganic compounds present in saliva. The last years there has been a growing interest in the role of nitrates and nitrites in protection against oral diseases. The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between NO concentration in unstimulated and stimulated saliva of children with low and high caries risk. Material and Methods: The study group consisted of 123 children with permanent dentition (the mean age 13.4 ± 0.3). According to DFMT index, the subjects were divided into low (51 subjects) and high caries risk group (72 subjects). Two saliva samples were taken from each subject -- unstimulated and stimulated one. Nitric oxide concentration was measured as total nitrates and nitrites by the Griess reaction method. Results: The results of this study show that the presence of NO and its metabolites in saliva of children with natural healthy teeth is significantly higher compared to high risk group, suggesting the protective role of NO in relation to caries. Conclusions: The highly significant increase of nitrates and nitrites in stimulated saliva of high caries risk group could be the host defense response opposing bacterial growth, due to induction of MOS in salivary glands. The obtained results support the role of NO as modulator of bacterial proliferation and suggest that increased NO production might contribute to lower caries incidence in children. Key words Dental Caries; Caries Detector; Biological Markers Svrha: Zubni je karijes infektivna bolest uzrokovana bakterijama, a ima veliku incidenciju u drzavama u razvoju. Vazni cimbenici u njegovu nastanku mogli bi biti sastavni dijelovi salivarnog obrambenog sustava, kao na primjer organske i anorganske komponente u slini. Posljednjih godina sve je vece zanimanje za istrazivanje utjecaja nitrata i nitrita u zastiti od oralnih bolesti. Svrha ove studije bila je odrediti odnos izmedu koncentracije NO-a u nestimuliranoj i stimuliranoj slini djece s niskim i visokim rizikom za karijes. Ispitanici i postupci: U sklopu studije ispitano je 123 djece s trajnom denticijom (srednja starost 13 ± 0,3). Ovisno o indeksu DMF F-a sudionici su bili podijeljeni u skupinu niskoga karijesnog rizika (51 ispitanik) i visokoga karijesnog rizika (72 ispitanika). Od svakoga su bila uz