Abstract
Objective This study aimed to assess the role of thiol/disulfide homeostasis and oxidative
stress in the saliva of children with severe early childhood caries (S-ECC).
Methods Eighty children aged 3 to 6 years were involved in this case-control study. The study
consisted of two groups: the study group (S-ECC) and the control group with no caries.
Thiol/disulfide homeostasis and antioxidant levels were calculated after obtaining
unstimulated saliva samples from all participating children.
Results The native/total thiol and total oxidant status (TOS) levels of the study group were
higher than those of the control group, though not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The oxidative stress index (OSI) value was significantly higher in the study
group compared to the control group (p = 0.024).
Conclusion Our results confirmed that the thiol/disulfide homeostasis was reduced, and disulfide
formation, which is rereducible to thiol, was insufficient in children with S-ECC
to compensate oxidative stress compared with the control group. Also, thiol levels
were inadequate to compensate for oxidative stress, and thiol/disulfide homeostasis
was not an independent parameter for S-ECC. Besides, the increases in the TOS level
and OSI value show that oxidative stress had significant effects on S-ECC's etiopathogenesis.
Keywords
native thiol - thiol-disulfide homeostasis - total antioxidant status
