Evaluation Of the Salivary Levels Of Nerve Growth Factor In Symptomatic Irreversible Pulpitis: An In Vivo Study

Introduction: Pain is one of the major complaints of a patient seeking dental treatment. As dental practitioners, one must be aware of the various pathways of pain and the modalities to effectively relives the patient of it during the entire course of treatment. During inflammation of pulp, an elevation in the levels of various inflammatory biomarkers have been observed in saliva. Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) is a protein that has been associated with neutrophic and nociceptive pain. Dental pain involves nociceptive pain mechanism due to the presence of A∂ (myelinated) and C (unmyelinated) fibres. Thus, highlighting a probability of the role of Nerve Growth Factor signalling pathway in dental pain. The present study was conducted to evaluate the salivary levels of NGF in symptomatic irreversible pulpitis. Materials and Method: Salivary samples were collected from patients diagnosed with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis and control group and were subjected to ELISA test to evaluate the levels of NGF. Results: A mean of 8.33 ± 0.60 pg/ml level of salivary nerve growth factor was observed in symptomatic irreversible which was significantly higher than the levels in the control group. Conclusion: The elevation in the levels of NGF in saliva during pulpitis suggests the involvement of NGF signalling pathway during pulpal pain which could be used to develop new pharmacological approaches for effective pain management.