Abstract
BACKGROUND: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is one of the most toxic environmental exposures and passive smoking is an important general health problem. Children are the most vulnerable group to ETS exposure. This study aimed to compare the salivary total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and lipid peroxidation levels in passive smoking and nonsmoking adolescents aged 12-15 years. METHODS: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 80 adolescents aged 12-15 years. The case group included passive smokers and the control group comprised nonsmokers. These groups were age- and sex-matched ones. Unstimulated saliva of both groups was collected using the spitting method. Then, the salivary total antioxidant and lipid peroxidation levels were measured using the ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assays, respectively. The independent samples t-test was used for data comparison. FINDINGS: There was a significant difference in salivary total antioxidant levels between the case group (51.98 ± 88.97 µM) and the control group (174.35 ± 148.15 µM) (P = 0.003). There was no significant difference between the case group (0.97 ± 1.96) and the control group (0.81 ± 0.97) in lipid peroxidation levels (P = 0.542). CONCLUSION: It seems that passive smoking can reduce the salivary TAC of adolescents, thereby threatening oral cavity health.