Over the past decade, there has been growing interest in the association between macro and trace minerals in body fluids and systemic diseases related to chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. Due to the paucity of data in the literature on periodontitis, the aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess the relationship between mineral elements in saliva and periodontal status in patients with untreated and treated periodontitis compared to periodontally healthy controls. Salivary samples from 66 nonsmoker healthy patients (20 periodontally healthy, 24 untreated severe periodontitis and 22 treated severe periodontitis) were analyzed by using inductively coupled plasma mass-spectrometry (ICP-MS). Significant increases in copper (Cu), sodium (Na), iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) concentrations occurred in saliva of severe periodontitis subjects compared to periodontally healthy controls. No differences were detected between healthy controls and treated periodontitis patients apart from levels of zinc (Zn) and lithium (Li) that were found to be increased and reduced, respectively, in periodontitis group. Most subjects were correctly separated by cluster analysis into active periodontitis and periodontally healthy individuals. Treated periodontitis individuals were classified as healthy subjects. Based on these preliminary results, the assessment of salivary concentration of mineral elements might be useful in discriminating periodontal health and disease.
Keywords: inductively coupled plasma mass-spectrometry; metals; periodontitis; saliva.