ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess salivary nitric oxide (NO) levels in children with caries at baseline before treatment and compare salivary NO levels before treatment and after 15 and 30 days of the treatment. Study design: The saliva sample was collected from a total of 31 children with caries aged between 6 and 12 years. NO levels were estimated in children with caries before and after treatment using Griess reaction. Decayed teeth in permanent dentition (DT) and and decayed teeth in primary dentition (dt) scores, pretreatment NO levels were recorded at the baseline. After completing the treatment, posttreatment NO levels were compared at 15 and 30 days using paired t-tests. Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparing NO levels with both genders. Further, the correlation of NO with age and dental caries was estimated using the Spearman correlation test. Results: A significant increase in salivary NO levels was found in children after treatment (p < 0.001). No significant correlation was found between NO, age, gender, and DT and dt scores. Conclusion: Higher levels of NO were associated with low caries experience. Clinical significance: The salivary NO in children is of higher diagnostic values as it can be used in caries risk assessment. How to cite this article: Jindal M, Sogi S, Shahi P, et al. Salivary Nitric Oxide Levels before and after Treating Caries in Children: A Comparative Study. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2023;16(S-2):S133-S137.
ABSTRACT
Background: Fluoridated dentifrices have been used for the prevention of dental caries since ages. However, to avoid the risk of fluorosis, the use of newer nonfluoridated options in dentifrices has shown a great interest in reducing Streptococcus mutans (SM) in early childhood caries (ECC). Aim: The study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of active oxygen (AO)-based dentifrice with amine fluoride (AF)-, sodium monofluorophosphate (SMP)-, herbal (HB)-, and tricalcium phosphate (TCP)-based dentifrices on SM count in children with ECC. Materials and Methods: Two hundred and fifty children aged 3-6 years with def ≥4 were selected and randomly divided into five groups of 50 each, based on the type of dentifrices used; Group I: AO-based, Group II: TCP, Group III: SMP, Group IV: AF, and Group V: HB dentifrice, and were asked to brush twice daily for 15 days. The saliva samples were collected at baseline, and after 15 days, cultured for SM colonies count. Results: Difference in colony-forming units (CFU)/ml between baseline and 15 days was highly significant in all the five groups (P < 0.001). Significant difference was observed in SM count after 15 days between Groups I and IV (P = 0.017), while nonsignificant differences were seen when compared with Groups II, III, and V (P = 0.975, 0.137, and 0.992). Conclusions: All the dentifrices were efficacious in reducing SM count in children with ECC. Although AO dentifrice showed superior results when compared to SMP, TCP, and HB, it did not prove to be superior to AF.
