Received: 01 Mar. 2016 Accepted: 23 July. 2016 1- Assistant Professor, Oral and Dental Diseases Research Center AND Kerman Social Determinants on Oral Health Research Center AND Department of Periodontics, School of Dentistry, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran 2- Assistant Professor, Department of Periodontics, School of Dentistry, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran 3- Pathology and Stem Cell Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Correspondence to: Mohadeseh Arabsolghar, MD Email: m.a.solghar@kmu.ac.ir http://johoe.kmu.ac.ir, 5 October J Oral Health Oral Epidemiol/ Autumn 2016; Vol. 5, No. 4 205 Evaluation of salivary immunoglobulin A level in thalassemic patients with periodontitis in comparison with thalassemic patients with healthy periodontium Mohadeseh Arabsolghar MD 1 , Parvin Arbabi MD 2 , Mohammad Mohammadi MD 1 , Alireza Farsinejad PhD 3 Abstract BACKGROUND AND AIM: This study was conducted to evaluate salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) level in thalassemic patients with periodontitis in comparison to thalassemic patients with healthy periodontium. METHODS: Seventy-five patients were included in this study and were divided into three groups, group A: 25 major thalassemic patients with mild to moderate periodontitis, group B: 25 thalassemic patients with healthy periodontium, and group C: 25 systemically healthy people with normal periodontium. To measure salivary IgA levels, stimulated saliva was collected and analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, and chi-square. RESULTS: Salivary IgA was significantly different in major thalassemia patients with periodontitis (69 μm/ml) in comparison to major thalassemia patients with healthy periodontium (81 μm/ml) (P < 0.05). The highest level of salivary IgA was observed in the systemically healthy people with normal periodontium (88 μm/ml). CONCLUSION: The levels of salivary IgA were decreased in major thalassemia patients with periodontitis and healthy periodontium in comparison to systemically healthy people with normal periodontium. KEYWORDS: Major Thalassemia; Periodontitis; Immunoglobulin A Citation: Arabsolghar M, Arbabi P, Mohammadi M, Farsinejad A. Evaluation of salivary immunoglobulin A level in thalassemic patients with periodontitis in comparison with thalassemic patients with healthy periodontium. J Oral Health Oral Epidemiol 2016; 5(4): 205-9. halassemia is a congenital disorder in which protruded maxilla, severe malocclusion, open bite, flattened bridge of the nose, upper lip protrusion and glossitis have been observed in these patients. 1,2 In thalassemic patients, T cell response is diminished and cellular immunity impairment is seen. 3 So immune system of these patients cannot control infection well and preventive dentistry is necessary because of anemia, iron overload, and splenectomy. Although the prevalence and severity of periodontal diseases have been demonstrated in association with a number of systemic diseases, 4,5 but little information exists on the relationship between periodontal disease and thalassemia and there are contradictory results in this area. 6 In addition to the effect of thalassemia on systemic immunity, local defence system is also affected. Therefore, no changes in salivary immunoglobulin levels in thalassemia patients with gingivitis is due to lack of response of B-lymphocytes to gingival inflammation. It was shown that burning sensation and dry mouth are the most frequent oral manifestation in thalassemia patients. One of the causes of local immune deficiency is dry mouth that reduces salivary T Original Article