Aphthous ulcers, salivary peroxidase and stress: Are they related?

In today's high strung lifestyle, stress plays a major role on our health. Studies using ultraweak chemiluminescence have been able to demonstrate this effect, of psychological stress on the immune system, using saliva as a psychological stress marker. The impact of psychosocial factors on the oral mucosal lesions of individuals found that stress can contribute to weakened immunity and increased susceptibility to infection.

To study the role of salivary peroxidase (SPOx) in psychologically stressed individuals with and without the presence of aphthous ulcer.

The study involved evaluating subjects for stress, using Perceived Stress Scale. Depending on the stress scores and the presence or absence of oral aphthae, they were assigned into 3 groups of 30 each. After a thorough oral examination, individual samples of saliva was collected and subjected to microprotein estimation using a biochemical analyzer.

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Student's t-test.

Decreased levels of peroxidase were found in individuals' with aphthous ulcers, while the same was increased when no lesions were found and also on a lower stress scale.

Our study analysis does show a variation in enzyme levels between the different groups highlighting the influence of stress on the peroxidase levels, which in turn when imbalanced, results in tissue damage, leading to aphthous formation.