Salivary Selenium Levels in Dental Caries

Abstract

Background: Selenium , an essential trace element performs various biological functions through different -containing proteins7 .Selenium has over 25 different proteins named as selenoproteins. These trace elements play a major role in remineralisation and demineralization cycle of tooth surface. Therefore, this study is aimed at evaluating the salivary selenium levels in caries free and caries active individuals. Methods and Materials: After obtaining the ethical clearance the study was conducted among the 60 individuals reporting to the department of conservative dentistry and Endodontics A.B.Shetty memorial institute of dental sciences , Nitte University, Deralakatte Mangalore who can be included into the study based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Salivary samples were collected and assessed by Micowave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer (MP-AES) for selenium levels in caries free and caries active group . Results: The values obtained where statistically analyzed using SPSS version 2.0 software. Caries free group showed a mean selenium levels of 116.9863 microgram/L with a standard deviation of 9.60601. Whereas caries active group showed a mean selenium levels of 63.7547 microgram/L and standard deviation of 12.06005 . Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances was done to test the significance. The values shows significant difference between the two group.