“…In alcohol abusers and smokers, there have been reported disturbed function of the salivary glands with concomitant decrease in the secretion of salivary proteins, impairment in the immune mechanisms such as phagocytosis, chemotaxis, increased production of peroxides, and impaired function and proliferation of B and T lymphocytes and production of immunoglobulins [3,8,15]. People who chew tobacco have decreased levels of lysozyme and lactoferrin and increased secretion of immunoglobulin A in their saliva [9,10], which indicates reduced innate and activated acquired immunity of the saliva. Persons addicted to alcohol have been reported to have lower output of lactoferrin (non-smokers) [10] and immunoglobulin A (smokers) [9], which, together with the reduced output of lysozyme in our study, indicated suppression of immunity mediators present in the saliva.…”