Salivary electrolytes and total proteins in diabetic patients with and without chronic periodontitis and healthy adults: A comparative study

Aims and objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate and compare salivary electrolytes and total protein in diabetic patients with and without periodontitis and in healthy adults, to correlate clinical parameters with electrolytes in all the groups. Furthermore, the correlation between electrolytes of all groups was carried out. Materials and Methods: 45 subjects of age group 25-60 years were selected and divided into 3 groups, Group 1: Healthy individuals, Group 2: Diabetic patients without chronic periodontitis, Group 3: Diabetic patients with chronic periodontitis. Clinical parameters (plaque index, bleeding index, probing pocket depth and clinical attachment loss) were recorded and non stimulated whole saliva was taken from all the subjects to perform biochemical analysis of salivary total proteins and electrolytes. Continuous variable with a normal distribution were expressed as means with Standard deviation. The intergroup difference was tested using one way ANOVA test. The categorical variables were expressed as numbers with percentage. The strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables were measured using Pearson's Correlation Coefficient. All statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS (10.5) package. A value of P <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: A statistically significant effect was demonstrated for plaque index and gingival index. The correlation of electrolytes between the groups was found but did not show statistical significance. Conclusion: Though the estimated values of salivary electrolytes are not significant in the present study, it can add to the data already recorded in Indian population.