ESTIMATION AND COMPARISON OF SALIVARY NITRIC OXIDE LEVELS IN SMOKERS AND NONSMOKERS WITH CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS

Background: Chronic periodontitis is the most frequently occurring form of periodontitis. Risk factors for periodontitis can be systemic or local. Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in pathogenesis of periodontitis. Smoking is a major risk factor in periodontal diseases. The aim of present study was to determine and compare the salivary levels of NO in healthy controls, smokers and nonsmokers with chronic periodontitis. Method: A total of 120 subjects were involved in the present study and divided into 3 equal groups of 40 control patients, 40 nonsmokers with chronic periodontitis and 40 smokers with chronic periodontitis. Periodontal disease status was determined by recording the plaque index(PI) by Silness and Loe, gingival index(GI), Mean probing pocket depth(PPD) and Mean clinical attachment level(CAL). Saliva was collected from patients by spit method. Nitric oxide activity was estimated by Griess colorimetric reaction. Results: The data was analyzed using statistical software package SPSS 16.0 for Windows version. The full mouth clinical indices values were analyzed by mean and standard deviation, one way ANOVA test. The comparison of the three groups and each parameter was carried out by post hoc (Tukey) test. Analysis of salivary nitric oxide levels in various study groups showed statistically significant difference (P value <0.001) between the control and non smokers with chronic periodontitis. Further, increased NO levels were noted in smokers with chronic periodontitis compared to nonsmokers. Conclusions: This study indicated that salivary NO is increased in patients with chronic periodontitis, which may have a role in disease progression. Additionally increased salivary NO levels in smokers with chronic periodontitis may further contribute to periodontal breakdown. Thus, estimation of salivary NO levels in smokers as well as non smokers with chronic periodontitis may be useful for the progression of periodontal disease.