[Relation between salivary aspartate aminotransferase and periodontal disease]

ABSTRACT

The previous studies demonstrated that there is a strong relationship between the levels of Aspartate aminotransferase [AST] and the progression of the periodontal disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of this enzyme in various stage of the periodontal disease. Sixty volunteers participated in this historical cohort study. They were divided in three groups of 20 each; group 1 [healthy periodontium], group 2 [early periodontitis], and group 3 [advanced periodontitis]. Following periodontal examination including plaque index, bleeding on probing, pocket depth, and attachment level, 1ml of unstimulated saliva was collected and evaluated for the differences by means of Kruskal Wallis and student t tests. There was a higher level of the enzyme in the saliva of the subjects with advanced periodontitis [67.95 16.4] compared to periodontally normal [36.8 13.5] and early periodontitis [43.45 18.4] patients, and the difference was highly significant [P<0.0001]. There seems to be a positive relationship between periodontal disease severity and the higher value of the AST enzyme in saliva. The results should be confirmed by longitudinal studies evaluating the various parameters of the periodontal disease