Stimulated and Unstimulated Saliva Glucose Levels in Children Suffer Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus

Objectives: Occurrence insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or Type 1DMis growing worldwide. Checking serum glucose is necessary for management of DM. Serum glucose assessment involves needle puncture or venipuncture. The aim of this study was to assess the salivary glucose level in monitoring glycaemia in children with IDDM. Methods: Serum as well as stimulated and unstimulated saliva were collected from 34 IDDM and 34 non-diabetic subjects. Serum and saliva glucose levels were measured by GOD-POP. For the statistical analysis of student’s t-test, Pearson correlation test and Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used. Results: Stimulated and unstimulated salivary levels of glucose were significantly higher in children with IDDM compared to control subjects. Serum glucose concentration correlates with stimulated (r = 0.407; P = 0.005), but not with unstimulated salivary concentration of glucose (r = 0.189; P = 0.145). Serum HbA1c correlates with unstimulated (r = 0.404; P = 0.001), but not with stimulated salivary concentration of HbA1c (r = 0.0.95; P = 0.526). The cut-off value of stimulated and unstimulated salivary glucose for the diagnosis of IDDM were 2.15 mg/dL and 1.05 mg/dL, respectively. Conclusions: It seems that saliva glucose is higher in Type 1 diabetic mellitus subjects and checking of glucose in saliva may be applied as an index of DM.