Effect of Smoking and Tobacco Chewing on Superoxide Dismutase Activity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37506/ijphrd.v11i3.686Keywords:
Tobacco, saliva, superoxide dismutase, smoking, pan chewing, cigarettes.Abstract
Background: Tobacco either in smoke or smokeless form is a significant source for free radicals that induces
neoplastic changes in the body. Saliva is the first fluid that is exposed to tobacco and its anti-oxidative system
consists of many enzymes like superoxide dismutase which play an important role in cancer prevention. The
present study has been conducted to investigate the effect of tobacco on the antioxidative system of saliva
in individuals indulging in the habit of tobacco consumption either in the form of smoking or chewing and
compare it with changes if any among healthy individuals.
Materials and Method: A cross sectional study comprising of 100 patients were enrolled for the study
and was divided into two groups- Group A and Group B. Fifty healthy individuals who were age and
gender matched, and with a negative history of smoking or chewing tobacco & without the presence of
any periodontal disease were assigned to group A. The remaining fifty were allocated to group B who had
a history of smoking cigarettes/chewing tobacco daily. Unstimulated saliva samples of these subjects were
investigated for activity of salivary superoxide dismutase (SOD). Data was analyzed using SPSS (11.5) and
running Kruskal-Wallis test. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.
Results: There were significant differences in the activity of superoxide dismutase and was consistently
seen to be low in patients with no history of pan chewing/smoking and there was an increase in the mean
SOD levels among pan chewers and a decrease in the mean SOD levels in patients with the habit history of
smoking 5-10 cigarettes.
