Correlation of Oral Health Status and Salivary Antioxidant Capacity in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Dental caries is considered as one of the major complication of diabetes mellitus. Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) demonstrate evidence of oxidant–antioxidant imbalances in their biological fluids such as saliva. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation of oral health status and salivary total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in T2DM.
Fifty T2DM patients and 50 healthy subjects were selected as study sample. Oral examination to assess the dental caries experience was carried out according decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) index. Unstimulated whole saliva specimens were collected in the morning. TAC of saliva was evaluated by spectrophotometric assay. Statistical analysis was performed using an independent two-sample t test and Pearson's correlation test, by SPSS 18.
The mean level of TAC in T2DM was lower than healthy people (P-value: 0.0001). The mean of DMFT scores in T2DM were significantly higher than non-diabetics (P-value: 0.0001). Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between TAC level and DMFT scores in both groups (P-value: 0.006).
TAC of saliva could be a marker of dental caries activity among T2DM and healthy adults. Therefore, in order to decrease the risk of oxidative damage, it is recommended that T2DM patients take more natural antioxidant food.