Are salivary NO 2 - / NO 2 - and NO 3 - levels biomarkers for dental caries in children? Systematic review and meta-analysis

The literature is conflicting regarding salivary nitrite (NO )/nitrite and nitrate (NO and NO ) levels in children affected by dental caries. For this reason, a systematic review to provide a consensus on the subject was propose, whose objective is to verify whether these molecules could be used as biomarkers in children with caries. A comprehensive search was performed on online database and eleven articles were included in the meta-analysis. The methodological quality of studies was assessed by Newcastle-Ottawa Scale recommended for case-control studies and by AXIS tool for cross-sectional studies. Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation was used for the assessment of the certainty of the evidence for each outcome. The results showed lower NO levels in the group of children affected by dental caries (SMD = -2.18 [-3.24, -1.13], p