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. 2023 Aug 12;23(1):562.
doi: 10.1186/s12903-023-03195-5.

Clinical correlation of salivary alpha-amylase levels with pain intensity in patients undergoing emergency endodontic treatment

Kavalipurapu Venkata Teja  1 , Sindhu Ramesh  1 , Krishnamachari Janani  2 , Kumar Chandan Srivastava  3 , Deepti Shrivastava  4   5 , Valentino Natoli  6   7 , Marco Di Blasio  8 , Marco Cicciù  9 , Giuseppe Minervini  10
Affiliations

Clinical correlation of salivary alpha-amylase levels with pain intensity in patients undergoing emergency endodontic treatment

Kavalipurapu Venkata Teja et al. BMC Oral Health. .

Abstract

Background: Pain is usually subjective and thus it is challenging to describe its characteristics such as nature, intensity, and origin. Non-invasive methods such as assessing salivary alpha-amylase (SAA) may aid the practitioner to evaluate the pain intensity. Hence, the current study aimed to correlate the levels of SAA with the pain intensity in patients presenting with varied endodontic pain levels.

Methods: Sixty patients who presented with varied intensities of endodontic pain were selected for the present study out of which seven patients were excluded/dropped, leaving a total sample of fifty-five patients for assessment. Mandibular molar with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis without periapical pathology were included in the study. A 5ml of un-stimulated was obtained from the patients, following which the local anesthesia was administered. Root canal treatment was then performed and the pain scores at pre-operative and post-operative were recorded. Additionally, salivary samples were collected after emergency endodontic treatment and sent for sialochemical analysis. IBM.SPSS statistics software 23.0 was employed to assess the obtained data.

Results: A statistically significant drop in the pain score (P < 0.001) and SAA levels (P < 0.001) were observed post-operatively in the contract to pre-operative state. A strong positive correlation was reported between SAA levels and pain scores in patients undergoing emergency endodontic treatment at both time intervals namely pre-operative (P < 0.001) and post-operative (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: The results of this preliminary showed a strong association between the pain score and SAA levels in patients undergoing an emergency endodontic treatment.

Keywords: Endodontics; Pain; Pain management; Root canal therapy; Salivary alpha-amylases.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Patient recruitment Flowchart
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
(A-E) -Illustrating the entire protocol of assessment of Salivary Alpha-Amylase. (A) – Collection of reagents; (B) – Addition of reagent to salivary sample; (C) Color change of salivary sample is evident after the addition of reagent; (D & E) – Assessment of color change in the spectrophotometer
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Gender distribution of the sample
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
(A & B): Scatter plot depicting association between pain scores and SAA pre-operative (A) and post-operatively (B)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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