Acute stress, salivary cortisol and calcium ions, in patients undergoing dental extraction procedure

Abstract

Stress is well approved to be co-related to the dental extraction procedure, and
linked to the increase in cortisol levels in patients undergoing dental treatments. Bone
affected vastly by exposure to cortisol and that is mainly due to scavenging of
minerals (calcium and phosphorus) from the bone by cortisol to be consumed as a fuel
and energy source in the process of gluconeogenesis; hence, alter the density of bone
and can cause substantial deterioration in bone quality and quantity. Cortisol can be
influential on the function of both the osteoblasts and the osteoclasts and that will
demonstrate significant changes on bone as well. This research investigated the
relation between the levels of cortisol and calcium ions with the degree of stress
before and after routine dental extraction.
Fifty two participants were included in this study, all met the inclusion and
exclusion criteria designated for the research; they were subdivided into 2 groups, first
group was admitted to salivary cortisol evaluation, and salivary calcium ions were
achieved for the second group.
The collected data represent a significant increase in both salivary cortisol and
salivary calcium ions in the post – dental extraction group when compared to the preextraction
group. The evaluated salivary cortisol with mean of 4.589± 0.819 mmol/L
for pre- extraction while, in the post-extraction the mean was 5.364 ± 1.017 mmol/L
with a significant changes. The salivary calcium ions mean were 5.66 ±0.985
mmol/L, while for the post-extraction mean was 6.380± 1.161 mmol/L with a
significant changes .
The findings of this research gave an insight that stress plays an essential role in
altering both salivary calcium ions and cortisol levels in the post-extraction period, as
both increased significantly.