Evaluation of Salivary Cortisol and Alpha-Amylase Levels in Patients with Geographic Tongue

Geographic tongue is the inflammation of the dorsal surface of the tongue with no definite etiology. In this study, salivary levels of cortisol and α-amylase in participants were measured to investigate the correlation of stress-related biomarkers with the occurrence of geographic tongue.

In this case-control study, unstimulated saliva samples of 90 participants (45 patients with geographic tongue and 45 control subjects) were collected, and the level of cortisol and alpha-amylase were measured, subsequently. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (Version 20) through Student’s t-test. A p-value less than 0.05 (P˂0.05) was considered statistically significant.

Salivary alpha-amylase level was obtained at 116.7±8.2 (u/ml) and 114.6±8.7 (u/ml) in patients with geographic tongue and the control group, respectively, indicating no significant difference between the two groups (P=0.8). Moreover, the level of salivary cortisol was obtained at 4.8±2.3 (ng/ml) and 6.9±3.4 (ng/ml) in the groups of control and case, respectively, which indicated a remarkable increase in the case group (P=0.001).

Although the level of salivary cortisol was higher in patients with geographic tongue, no significant relationship was observed between the risk of geographic tongue and alpha-amylase level. However, the evaluation of the correlation between geographic tongue and stress requires more clinical and para-clinical examinations.