Comparing periodontitis biomarkers in saliva, oral rinse and gingival crevicular fluid: A pilot study

AIM: To explore the feasibility of screening for periodontitis by measuring biomarkers, namely total proteolytic activity (TPA), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‐8, chitinase, lysozyme or their combination, in saliva, oral rinse and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Subjects were recruited among healthy/gingivitis individuals and untreated periodontitis patients in Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA). All participants donated samples of unstimulated whole saliva, oral rinse and GCF. The protein concentrations and MMP‐8 levels were determined by ELISA. Enzymatic activities were measured using appropriate fluorogenic substrates. RESULTS: In oral rinse samples, periodontitis patients (n = 19) exhibited significantly higher concentrations of MMP‐8 and TPA than controls (n = 20). MMP‐8 in combination with chitinase explained 88% of the variance and assigned a subject to control or periodontitis group, with best accuracy (87.2%) in oral rinse. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of MMP‐8 and chitinase in the current oral rinse procedure has the potential to discriminate periodontitis from periodontal health/gingivitis.