A comparative assessment of clinical parameters, sialic acid, and glycosaminoglycans levels in periodontitis patients with and without dental fluorosis: A clinical and biochemical study.

Aim: This study was aimed to evaluate and compare the clinical parameters and the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) levels of sialic acid (SA) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) in dental fluorosed and nonfluorosed (NF) gingivitis and periodontitis patients.

Materials And Methods: A total of 100 patients were divided into two control (healthy) and four test (diseased) groups of gingivitis and periodontitis patients with and without dental fluorosis. The GCF-SA and chondrotin sulphate levels were measured using the conventional method and enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay, respectively.

Results: The plaque levels (2.9 ± 0.44), gingival bleeding levels (2.75 ± 0.55), and clinical attachment loss (0.44 ± 0.45) between dental fluorosed participants with chronic periodontitis (fluorosed periodontitis [FP]) and NF participants with chronic periodontitis (nonfluorosed periodontitis [NFP]) groups showed no statistically significant difference. Higher probing pocket depth by community periodontal index (CPI) scores of 4 and clinical attachment level CPI score of 1 (75%) was found in FP group when compared to a score of 3 (FP: 24.5% and NFP: 73.5%) of the NFP group. The GCF SA levels (679.05 ± 101.06) were significantly higher in FP group than NFP group (553.80 ± 49.40) ( = 0.048). Similarly, the GCF CS showed highly significant levels in fluorosis periodontitis (48.08 ± 18.13) group than the NFP group (26.95 ± 8.69).

Conclusion: Increased pocket depth score, GCF-SA, and CS levels in the dental fluorosed group were observed when compared with NF group. The diagnostic ability of clinical examination is most often supported by the relevant biochemical parameters that are applicable in this study. The newer diagnostic ability of SA is found to be contributory in this study. The diagnostic ability of CS representing tissue destruction served as an important GCF marker along with SA.

Clinical Relevance: In dental fluorosis, estimation of SA and CS is recommended in periodontitis patients.