Increased salivary levels of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine may be a marker for disease activity for periodontitis.

BACKGROUND: 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) is commonly used as a marker to evaluate oxidative DNA damage in disorders including chronic inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory periodontal pathologies. In the current study we hypothesized that the level of 8-OHdG in saliva increases by the periodontal destruction severity determined by clinical parameters as clinical attachment level (CAL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sum of 60 age gender balanced; chronic periodontitis (CP) (n=20), chronic gingivitis (CG) (n=20) and healthy (H) (n=20) individuals. Clinical periodontal parameters and salivary 8-OHdG levels were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean 8-OHdG level in the saliva of the CP group was significantly higher than H and CG groups (p< 0.001). Statistically significant correlation was only observed between the salivary levels of 8-OHdG and age (p< 0.05), probing depth (PD) and CAL (p< 0.001) in CP group. However, when CP patients were classified according to their CAL levels (CAL⩾ 3 mm (n=11) and CAL<3 mm (n=9)) statistically significant correlation was only observed between the salivary levels of 8-OHdG and CAL ⩾ 3 mm patients (p< 0.001). CONCLUSION: We suggest that elevated salivary levels of 8-OHdG may be a marker for disease activity and it may reflect indirectly disease severity parameters such as CAL.