Salivary Malondialdehyde Level as a Lipid Peroxidation Marker in Early Childhood Caries

Early childhood caries (ECC) is an aggressive and multifactorial form of dental caries in children, in which the biomarkers of oxidative stress may increase.

This study aimed to compare the salivary malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in children with early childhood caries (ECC) and caries-free (CF) children.

To this end, 42 ECC children and 42 CF children, aged 4 - 6 years, were randomly selected from the kindergartens of four socio-economically different districts of Isfahan. An unstimulated saliva sample was obtained from children fasting during the past night using the spitting method. In the laboratory, the MDA levels were evaluated spectrophotometrically. An independent-samples t-test was used to examine the differences between the two groups.

The mean salivary MDA level was significantly higher in the ECC group than in the CF group (P = 0.01), and there was no significant relationship between salivary MDA and gender (P = 0.44 in the ECC group, P = 0.30 in the CF group). Moreover, no significant relationship was noticed between MDA with decayed, missing, filled teeth (dmft).

The findings documented a relationship between ECC and MDA as one of the products of oxidative stress reactions. Accordingly, the MDA level of saliva can be a critical indicator in determining the status of caries in children.