Is salivary fluoride a better noninvasive indicator of progressive periodontal disease than invasive serum fluoride – A Cross Sectional study

Abstract

Periodontitis is seen as resulting from a complex interplay of bacterial infection and host response, modified by behavioral and systemic risk factors.There is high prevalence of endemic fluorosis among the patients in certain regions in India and scarcity of information on the effects of levels of fluoride in serum and saliva to the periodontal disease severity. Aim of the present study was to estimate the levels of fluoride in serum and saliva and in ground water of chronic periodontitis subjects in the endemic fluorosed area and to correlate the levels of fluoride in serum and saliva to the periodontal disease severity.140 subjects were divided into two groups. Group I (Test group) consisted of 100 dental subjects diagnosed with dental fluorosis and chronic periodontitis. Group II (Control group) consisted of 40 non-fluorosed subjects. Ion selective electrode method was used for assessingthe fluoride in serumand saliva. There was no significant correlation between salivary and serum fluoride levels and the periodontal disease severity. However the mean salivary fluoride levels were found to significantly influence the dental fluorosis severity (p<0.005*).