ArticleEuropean archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry2026
Salivary biomarkers and their association with dental caries and oral health status in children with β-thalassaemia: a case-control study.
Article in European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
purposeThis study compared oral health status, dental caries, and salivary biomarkers (flow rate, pH, sialic acid, and total antioxidant capacity [TAC]) in children with β-thalassaemia and healthy controls and examined their associations and predictive value for caries risk.
methodsThis analytical case-control study involved 80 children aged 5-12 years (40 with β-thalassaemia major and 40 age- and sex-matched controls). The unstimulated saliva was analysed for flow rate, pH, sialic acid (acidic ninhydrin method), and TAC (phosphomolybdenum method). Clinical indices included DMFT/dmft, gingival bleeding, periodontal scores, and probing depths. Statistical analyses included t-tests/Mann-Whitney U tests, Spearman correlations, multivariable logistic regression, and ROC curves (SPSS v26.0; p < 0.05).
resultsThalassaemic children had significantly higher DMFT/dmft (median 4.5 vs. 2, p < 0.001), worse periodontal health, reduced flow rate (0.68 ± 0.26 vs. 1.7 ± 0.43 mL/min), lower pH (6.47 ± 0.17 vs. 7.21 ± 0.54), elevated sialic acid (51.23 ± 12.38 vs. 20.97 ± 3.48 μg/mL), and lower TAC (303.32 ± 88.36 vs. 888.33 ± 319.16 μmol/L; all p < 0.001). Biomarker-DMFT correlations were present in controls but absent in the thalassaemia group. Multivariable regression showed that elevated sialic acid level was the strongest predictor of high caries risk (DMFT/dmft > 3; OR = 2.50, 95% CI 1.45, 4.32, p = 0.001), whilst higher flow rate, pH, and TAC were protective.
conclusionβ-Thalassaemia major is linked to poor oral health and disrupted salivary profiles due to iron overload and oxidative stress. Salivary sialic acid and TAC have emerged as promising non-invasive biomarkers for caries risk assessment, advocating for the integration of preventive dental care within multidisciplinary management.
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