title: Diagnostic perspective of saliva in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus children: An in vivo study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The absence, destruction, or loss of β-cells of pancreas results in type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus [IDDM]). Presently, diagnosis and periodic monitoring of diabetes is achieved by evaluating blood glucose levels as it is relatively invasive and dreaded by children. In the light of this, present study was planned to compare salivary glucose values with blood glucose values and the biochemical characteristics of saliva in IDDM children were evaluated and obtained results were compared with the salivary parameters of normal children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty IDDM children and 30 healthy children were selected for the study. Fasting blood sample and unstimulated salivary sample were collected from all the subjects and were subjected for analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A weak positive correlation was noticed between fasting blood glucose and salivary glucose values in IDDM children. But a mean average of salivary glucose was high in IDDM children when compared with healthy children. The biochemical parameters like acid phosphatase, total protein count, and α-amylase were increased, whereas salivary urea did not show significant variation between the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With presently used diagnostic armamentarium, estimation of salivary glucose cannot replace the standard method of estimation of glucose in diabetic mellitus children. The established relationship was very weak with many variations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Lenora Institute of Dental Sciences, Rajahmundry, India.
authors.forename: P V S Deepa
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Lakshmi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Sibar Institute of Dental Sciences, Guntur, India.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sridevi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Sibar Institute of Dental Sciences, Guntur, India.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Sai Sankar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, S.V.S. Dental College, Mehaboobnagar, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Manoj Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Sibar Institute of Dental Sciences, Guntur, India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sridhar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Sibar Institute of Dental Sciences, Guntur, India.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sujatha
keywords: Biomarkers; glucose; insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus; saliva