Differences of Salivary Total Protein Levels in Plaque Induced Gingivitis and Healthy Patients in Periodontology Clinic of the Faculty of Dentistry USU Medan

Abstract

Gingivitis is an inflammation of the gingiva due to an accumulation of bacterial plaque that can cause periodontal structural damage. In general, to diagnose gingivitis involves clinical measurements and radiographic assessment which are often poorly tolerated by the patients and are also subjected to measurement errors. Some researchers have found that saliva provides an easily available, non-invasive diagnostic medium for a rapidly widening range of diseases and clinical situations saliva. The aim of this study is to determine the difference of salivary total protein levels in plaque induced gingivitis and healthy patients. This bivariate analytic study is a non-experimental study, with a cross sectional design. 30 samples of saliva were taken by purposive sampling method and divided into saliva of patients suffering from plaque induced gingivitis and saliva of healthy patients, as control. Gingivitis was measured using Papilla Bleeding Index (PBI) while the total protein level of saliva was measured using the Bradford Assay method. The results of this study indicated that there was a significant difference (p <0.05) in salivary total protein levels between the plaque induced gingivitis patients and healthy patients. Plaque induced gingivitis patients had high protein content with a mean value of 0.360 while the mean value of healthy patient was 0.108. Based on the results of the study it is concluded that there was an increase in protein level in saliva in plaque induced gingivitis patients.