Alternations of Antioxidant Activity in Saliva in Smokers

Cigarette smoke is injurious to both oral cavity and internal body environment. Saliva is the firstbody fluid to encounter the dangerous smoke. The aim of our present study was, therefore, toevaluate the influence of smoking on the antioxidant activity of saliva of healthy smokers.Antioxidant capacity of saliva was determined using different methods in the centrifuged saliva from25 male smokers and 25 non-smokers in a similar age range. Chemical methods and highperformance liquid chromatography (HIQC) revealed a significant decrease in total antioxidantcapacity and values of non-enzymatic antioxidants in saliva of smokers. Based on the results obtainedin the present study, we concluded that smoking could significantly affect the anitoxidant behavior ofnormal human saliva. Thus, smoking may induce several oral diseases as well as respiratory andcardiovascular disorders and could cause different cancers.