Salivary Antioxidants in Patients with Acute Apical Abscess before and after Root Canal Treatment

Abstract

Background and purpose: Antioxidants can prevent oxidative damage caused by increased production of free radicals in oral and dental diseases. In this research, the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of saliva in patients with acute apical abscess before and after root canal treatment was investigated and compared with a control group. Materials and methods: In this case-control study, salivary antioxidant levels of 20 patients with acute apical abscess were collected before and three weeks after root canal treatment. Also, 20 healthy people (without tooth decay and abscess and without any systemic diseases) were considered as the control group. The ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) was used to measure total antioxidant in the saliva samples and the TAC was evaluated. Then, all data were analyzed in SPSS V16. Results: The mean salivary TAC in the case group was 298.8±174.9 µmol/L before treatment and 450.9±145.2 µmol/L after treatment (P=0.009). However, there was no significant difference in the TAC between the case group after root canal treatment and the control group (P=0.056). Conclusion: This study showed that effective treatment of acute apical abscess can increase the overall antioxidant capacity, reduce oxidative stress, and have an effective role in repairing the damage caused by the activity of free radicals.

Keywords

• total antioxidant capacity
• saliva
• acute apical abscess
• ferric reducing ability of plasma