Studies On Possible Factors In Saliva In The Etiology Of Oral Cancer

Abstract

The present study was performed on 195 individuals divided according to their oral hygiene into the following four groups; Group I: Control healthy individuals; Group II: Patients suffering of early to moderate periodontitis; Group III: Patients suffering of advanced periodontitis; Group IV: Oral cancer patients. Clinical examinations including periodontal Russell index (R.I) and periapical X-ray revealed a gradual increase in R. I. according to the severity of the oral periodontal condition. Oral cancer was mainly of the squamous cell carcinoma type and localized in the floor of the mouth or the lateral and the base of the tongue. Unstimulated saliva of the controls and patients were subjected to different biochemical investigations, which revealed that: p-glucuronidase (BG), whether of tissue origin or bacterial origin was significantly elevated in cases suffering of oral periodontitis as well as oral cancer patients, as compared to their corresponding controls. Regarding the thiocyanate (SCN') level, no significant changes were observed when comparing the patient groups to the controls. On the other hand it was highly elevated when comparing the patient groups to the controls. On the other hand it was highly elevated when comparing smokers to non-smokers, regardless the group investigated. Nitrite (NO2") content was significantly increased in the saliva.of patients suffering of early to moderate periodontitis, whereas its level was nonsignificantly elevated in saliva of oral cancer patients. On the other hand no changes were observed concerning the salivary pH among the different groups.