Comprehensive Assessment of Copper and Zinc Levels in Salivary Constituents of Oral Submucous Fibrosis Cases: An Original Research Study

Abstract

Aim:Varying levels of salivary constituents can have unusual effects on underlying oral
submucous fibrosis therefore this study was aimed to comprehensively assess levels of copper
and zinc (metallic ions) in salivary constituents of oral submucous fibrosis cases.
Materials and methods: This study was conducted in the department of oral pathology of the
institute. Total fifty subjects were selected by simple random sampling procedure which included
both male and female subjects in the age range of 21-40 years. All subjects were separated into
two study groups of twenty five each. Group one has subjects those who are diagnosed with oral
submucous fibrosis. Group two has subjects those who are asymptomatic and studied only for
comparison (control). For saliva collections, subjects are seated on the dental chair and bend
forward with head down. Saliva was collected into sterile glass container with wide bore. After
centrifugation procedure, copper and zinc were analyzed quantitatively.P value less than 0.05
was considered significant (p< 0.05).
Results:Data were sent for statistical analysis using statistical software Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences. All subjects were in the age range of 21-40 years in which 31 were males
and 9 were females. P value was significant for age range of 21-24 years (0.01). Mean (ppb)
value of copper and zinc was 0.0975 and 0.0891 respectively for group one. P value was highly
significant for copper (0.005).Mean (ppb) value of copper and zinc was 0.0639 and 0.0889
respectively for group two. Two sample t- test evaluation revealed highly significant p value for
group one (0.001).