TY - JOUR
T1 - The Effect of Dental Treatments in Caries Management on Stress and Salivary Protein Levels
AU - Vacaru, Raluca Paula
AU - Didilescu, Andreea Cristiana
AU - Sfeatcu, Ruxandra
AU - Tănase, Mihaela
AU - Munteanu, Aneta
AU - Miricescu, Daniela
AU - Kaman, Wendy Esmeralda
AU - Brand, Hendrik Simon
N1 - This article belongs to the Special Issue: Prevention and Management of Dental Caries and Erosive Tooth Wear. Funding Information: This work was partially supported by a grant of Ministry of Research and Innovation, CNCS—UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2016-0506, within PNCDI III and by University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Bucharest, Romania through Contract no. 33PFE/30.12.2021 funded by the Ministry of Research and Innovation within PNCDI III, Program 1—Development of the National RD system, Subprogram 1.2—Institutional Performance—RDI excellence funding projects. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
PY - 2022/8/1
Y1 - 2022/8/1
N2 - A great burden is put on healthcare systems by dental caries and understanding patients’ treatment needs is of utmost importance. The aim of this pre–post study was to assess dental anxiety and the psychological stress induced by two different types of dental treatment (prophylaxis and cavity preparation), by combining psychometric evaluations with salivary biomarkers, in a group of 28 schoolchildren presenting in a university clinic. Pre- and post-treatment unstimulated whole saliva was collected and levels of cortisol, alpha-amylase (sAA) and total protein content were measured. The State–Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children and the Frankl Behaviour Rating Scale (FBRS) were applied. Statistical analysis was performed using the Stata/IC 16 (StataCorp) programme. All salivary parameters showed strong positive correlations between pre- and post-treatment levels. Post-treatment, salivary cortisol decreased (p = 0.008, paired t-test), sAA did not change significantly (p = 0.572, sign test), while the sAA/cortisol ratio (AOC) increased (p = 0.036, sign test). There were no correlations between state and trait anxiety levels. State anxiety scores registered significantly higher values for children with an FBRS score of 3 compared with a score of 4 (p < 0.001, unpaired t-test). The post-treatment decrease in the salivary cortisol level was higher for prophylaxis compared with the cavity preparation group (p = 0.024, t-test). These results demonstrate that sAA and cortisol levels are altered differently by psychological stress induced by two different types of dental treatment.
AB - A great burden is put on healthcare systems by dental caries and understanding patients’ treatment needs is of utmost importance. The aim of this pre–post study was to assess dental anxiety and the psychological stress induced by two different types of dental treatment (prophylaxis and cavity preparation), by combining psychometric evaluations with salivary biomarkers, in a group of 28 schoolchildren presenting in a university clinic. Pre- and post-treatment unstimulated whole saliva was collected and levels of cortisol, alpha-amylase (sAA) and total protein content were measured. The State–Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children and the Frankl Behaviour Rating Scale (FBRS) were applied. Statistical analysis was performed using the Stata/IC 16 (StataCorp) programme. All salivary parameters showed strong positive correlations between pre- and post-treatment levels. Post-treatment, salivary cortisol decreased (p = 0.008, paired t-test), sAA did not change significantly (p = 0.572, sign test), while the sAA/cortisol ratio (AOC) increased (p = 0.036, sign test). There were no correlations between state and trait anxiety levels. State anxiety scores registered significantly higher values for children with an FBRS score of 3 compared with a score of 4 (p < 0.001, unpaired t-test). The post-treatment decrease in the salivary cortisol level was higher for prophylaxis compared with the cavity preparation group (p = 0.024, t-test). These results demonstrate that sAA and cortisol levels are altered differently by psychological stress induced by two different types of dental treatment.
KW - anxiety
KW - dental caries
KW - detection and diagnosis
KW - psychometric evaluations
KW - salivary alpha-amylase
KW - salivary cortisol
KW - treatment
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U2 - https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11154350
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11154350
M3 - Article
C2 - 35893440
SN - 2077-0383
VL - 11
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - Journal of clinical medicine
JF - Journal of clinical medicine
IS - 15
M1 - 4350
ER -