SALIVARY ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE ACTIVITY AND INORGANIC PHOSPHORUS CONCENTRATION IN CHILDREN WITH DIFFERENT DENTAL CARIES

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Dental caries is the most common dental disease in children. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and inorganic phosphorus concentration in saliva may be related to the susceptibility to dental caries.METHODS: In this case-control study, one hundred children in the age group of 4 – 6 years were divided into 3 groups: group one, 30 caries– free children with dfs 10. The unstimulated mixed salivary sample was collected from each child. After centrifuge, supernatants were separated and measurements of salivary ALP activity and inorganic phosphorus concentration were performed by using colorimetric techniques. Data were analyzed by SPSS software and student t-test. FINDINGS: Mean of dfs in groups 1, 2 and 3 were 0.36, 7.12 and 16.32, respectively. Mean values of ALP activity in group 2 (16.9 IU/L) and group 3 (18.3 IU/L) were significantly higher than group 1 (5.4 IU/L) (p<0.05). In addition, mean values of inorganic phosphorus in group 2 (31.1mg/dl) and group 3 (29.3mg/dl) were significantly higher than group 1 (16.2mg/dl) (p< 0.05).CONCLUSION: Our results revealed that ALP activity and inorganic phosphorus concentration had a direct relationship with the increase in caries rates. But this relationship was not seen between moderate and severe caries.

Keywords

• alkaline phosphatase
• inorganic phosphorus
• dental caries
• saliva