Effect of the use of snuff on the levels of interleukin-1 β and interleukin-8 in the gingival crevicular fl uid of periodontitis patients

Use of smokeless tobacco in the form of moist snuff placed in the oral cavity is popular in rural India. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to determine the effect of snuff on periodontitis by assessing interleukin (IL)-1 β and IL-8 levels in gingival crevicular fl uid. A total of 60 subjects were selected for this study. 40 subjects presented with periodontitis, which included 20 snuff users (SP) and 20 nonsnuff users (NS). 20 periodontally healthy patients formed the controls (healthy control: HC). The clinical parameters recorded were gingival index (GI), plaque index, calculus index, bleeding on probing (BOP), probing depth (PD), recession (RC), and clinical attachment level (CAL). The IL-1 β and IL-8 levels were assessed through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Quantikine®). Analysis of variance (ANOVA), post hoc Tukey’s, Kruskal-Walli’s ANOVA and Mann-Whitney test was used for comparison among groups and P > 0.05 was considered statistically signifi cant. No signifi cant difference was seen in levels of IL-1 β and IL-8 between SP and NS groups (P = 0.16, 0.97). However, both the periodontitis groups (SP and NS) had increased IL β levels when compared to HC group (P = 0.01, 0.001). The snuff users showed signifi cant increase in GI, BOP, RC, and CAL when compared with NS (P = 0.002, 0.001, 0.012, 0.002) whereas NS group had signifi cant increase in PD (P = 0.003). Within the limitations of this study, use of snuff does not affect the host infl ammatory response associated with periodontitis and leads to RC and increased CAL due to local irritant effect.