Abril - 2017

üzel

KGU

322

ssoc

ras

2017; 63(4):320-323

esults

Table 1 and Table 2 show the results for salivary fluoride,

sIgA, sIgG and sialic acid levels in the children of both groups.

No statistically significant difference was found in

salivary fluoride levels between group I and II. A signifi-

cant negative correlation was found between salivary

fluoride level and age (p<0.005, 0.025) in all subjects. No

relationship was observed between dental fluorosis and

salivary fluoride, sIgA, sIgG, or sialic acid level.

The sialic acid level differed significantly according

to age; this level was much lower in older children.

The sIgA and sIgG concentrations were similar. A

negative correlation was found between sIgA and sialic

acid levels (p<0.05, 0.028). Salivary sIgA levels were higher

and sialic acid levels were lower in group I compared to

group II, but these differences were not significant.

iscussion

There are various factors affecting secretion and compo-

sition of saliva, such as age, sex, number of teeth, weight,

stress, diseases or medications causing hypo salivation/

hyper salivation, environmental factors and radiation.

According to these factors, 51 children aged 6-12 years

with mixed dentition and fully erupted permanent first

molars were included in our study. Despite the standard-

ization of study factors, the groups were not equivalent

in terms of the number or age of included children.

In our study, TFI, which is based on visual examina-

tion, was used to determine the severity of dental fluoro-

sis. Children with TFI scores of 4 were included in the

study. TFI scores of 5 are well-known to progress rapidly

to 6, with the rate of progression increasing after the loss

of surface enamel.

Despite the attention given to the collection of un-

stimulated saliva in our study, the movement of children’s

tongues and cheeks during expectoration may have

caused mechanical stimulation, which would change

the salivary composition.

In the study, we compared the levels of salivary fluoride

of the children with dental fluorosis or healthy teeth and

there was no statistically significant differences recorded.

However, salivary fluoride levels decreased with increasing

age in both groups. Difficulties allocating the children into

groups that met all the study parameters also occurred,

namely: an equal number of children in both groups with

the same number of teeth could not be controlled, in ad-

dition to individual variety and effects of soft tissues and

reservoir systems in the mouth, such as plaque and teeth,

which affect the secretion and retention of fluoride and

have different properties at different ages.

Martin-Gomez et al.

reported that the salivary sialic

acid concentration in children with TFIs ≥ 2 was lower than

that of controls. In our study, the sialic acid concentration

was higher in group II compared with group I, whereas

sIgA and sIgG levels were higher in the dental fluorosis

group; however, these differences were not significant.

The relation between sIgA, sIgG and sialic acid levels

has been investigated in geriatrics patients. It is reported

that a negative correlation was found between total IgA

and sialic acid.

In our study, the level of sIgA was related to sialic acid

and increasing of sIgA was associated with decreasing of

sialic acid in mixed dentition. Our results suggest that

the dental plaque is negatively affected with decreased

sIgA and sialic acid levels. However, comparison of our

findings from children with mixed dentition with those

of other studies is difficult, given the lack of available

studies conducted in different age groups.

In two different studies, breastfed infants, compared

with formula-fed infants, were found to have almost two

times more sialic acid in the saliva.

20,21

Salivary sialic acid

was measured in children separated in three age groups:

18, 30 and 42 months. Sialic acid concentrations were

higher in the first group than in the third group.

Al-

though our study was performed in children but not

babies, the results showed similarities with those obtained

TABLE 1

Comparison of means according to group.

Salivary parameters Fluoride (ppm)

IgA (µg/mL)

IgG (mg/dL)

Sialic acid (µmol/mg protein)

Group I

0.0563 ± 0.0194

445.8462 ± 175.4654

1.4595 ± 1.5952

0.0214 ± 0.0089

Group II

0.0543 ± 0.0168

443.2727 ± 239.9123

1.0060 ± 0.6904

0.0223 ± 0.0076

TABLE 2

Comparison of means by sex.

Salivary parameters Fluoride (ppm)

IgA (µg/mL)

IgG (mg/dL)

Sialic acid (µmol/mg protein)

Girl

0.0538 ± 0.1636

489.8261 ± 247.8151

1.8548 ± 1.7725

0.0250 ± 0.0053

Boy

0.0568 ± 1974

403.1200 ± 149.6340

0.8205 ± 0.3734

0.0189 ± 0.0098