Salivary thiol levels and periodontal parameters assessed with a chromogenic strip

Periodontitis tends to be associated with bacteria that use sulfate as an energy source and produce thiol compounds that contain sulfhydryl (-SH) groups. This study used a chromogenic thiol-detecting strip to investigate whole saliva -SH concentration (SS) in subjects with and without periodontal disease. Ninety-six subjects were enrolled; all underwent periodontal evaluations, including plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), probing depth measurements (PD), and attachment levels (AL). Subjects were divided into 3 groups: those who were periodontally healthy (n = 17), those with gingivitis (n = 54), and those with periodontitis (n = 25). Of the 96 subjects, 33% (n = 32) were cigarette smokers. A chromogenic strip was used to collect a whole saliva sample from the mouth. Color reaction was scored based on a color chart. Good-to-moderate correlations were found between SS scores and PI (r = 0.47, P = 0.0001), GI (r = 0.45, P = 0.0001), PD (r = 0.42, P = 0.0001), and AL (r = 0.30, P = 0.002). Analysis of variance showed significant differences in SS scores among the 3 study groups (P = 0.0001); post-hoc analysis showed higher SS scores in subjects with periodontitis than in those without (P = 0.05). Logistic regression, adjusting for smoking, showed the odds ratio of periodontitis increased by a factor of 12.76 for each increase of one unit of measure of SS. These results indicate that assessing whole saliva thiol levels with a chromogenic strip could be used as a screening test for periodontal diseases.