Evaluation and Comparison of Total Antioxidant Capacity of Saliva Between Patients with Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis and Healthy Subjects

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS) is one of the most common chronic ulcerative lesions of the oral mucosa and its development may be associated with oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate salivary Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) in patients with minor RAS. MATERIALS & METHODS: In this case-control study, 27 patients with minor RAS and 28 age- and sex-matched controls without RAS were enrolled. TAC was measured in unstimulated saliva for patients (during active lesion phase and after healing) and controls by immunologic assay. Data were analyzed by SPSS 18 using paired and unpaired t-tests (P<0.05). RESULTS: Salivary TAC levels of patients presented a significant increase from active lesion phase (0.26±0.16) to healing time (0.43±0.41); (P=0.034). There was no significant difference in the level of salivary TAC between patients during active lesion phase and controls (0.24±0.13); (P=0.641). CONCLUSION: Increasing level of salivary TAC may be involved in remission of RAS lesions, suggesting its evaluation in future studies.