Romanian Biotechnological Letters Vol. 23, No. 1, 2018 Copyright © 2018 University of Bucharest Printed in Romania. All rights reserved ORIGINAL PAPER Romanian Biotechnological Letters, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2018 13297 Possible interaction between carious lesions, chronic marginal periodontitis, periapical pathology and salivary iodine level –preliminary results Received for publication, May 25 2015 Accepted, July 28 2016 IOANA SUCIU 1 , VIORICA TARMURE 2 , ECATERINA IONESCU 1 , ILEANA SUCIU 1 , MIHAELA CHIRILA 1 , IRINA GHEORGHE 3 , MARCELA POPA 3 , ANCA DUMITRIU 1 , HORIA URSU 4 1 University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", Faculty of Dental Medicine, Bucharest 2 "Iuliu Hatieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 3 University of Bucharest, Faculty of Biology, Research Institute of the University of Bucharest-ICUB, Life, Environment and Earth Sciences, Bucharest, Romania. 4 National Institute of Endocrinology "C.I. Parhon", Thyroid Unit 1 Corresponding author: Ioana Suciu, email: joa_suciu@yahoo.com; phone: 0722.593.808 Abstract Since the beginning of administration of iodine to prevent iodine deficiency, children have less dental cavities; iodine seems to increase the resistance to dental caries, retarding the process and reducing its incidence (in Romania the law regarding universal salt iodization was implemented in January 2003). Given its antioxidants properties, iodide may act as an antimicrobial agent in saliva. In our studied groups (group I, II, III) we found a statistically significant difference between the smokers and non- smokers on each of the above mentioned group. Our results confirm previous studies, showed that smoking had an increasing effect on the concentration of salivary thyocianate and a decreasing effect on the content of iodide in saliva. Key words: periodontal disease, periapical pathology, carious lesions, salivary iodine, thiocyanate, smoking 1. Introduction Dental caries continue to be the most prevalent chronic disease to affect human population [1]. On the other hand, iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) is arguably the world’s most common endocrine disease [2]. Interestingly, since the beginning of administration of iodine to prevent goiter induced by iodine deficiency, children have less dental caries, iodine seems to increase the resistance to dental caries, retarding the process and reducing its incidence (3). The thyroid gland is unique among the endocrine glands for its dependence on an essential micronutrient (iodine) for normal thyroid hormone production. In Romania, the law regarding Universal Salt Iodization was implemented in January 2003, as the main strategy for eliminating iodine deficiency. The natrium iodide symporter (NIS) (the iodide pump) is the plasma membrane glycoprotein that mediates active iodide transport in the thyroid and other tissues, including salivary glands [4]. Human NIS is a 643 amino acid protein and contains 643 transmembrane domains. The molecular characterization of natrium iodide symporter (NIS) began in 1996, when Nancy Carrasco’s group isolated the cDNA encoding rat NIS [5]. Although there are similarities between the salivary and thyroid iodine concentrating mechanism (both mechanisms are inhibited by some anions like thiocyanate and perchlorate via competitive inhibition), there are also important differences. The physiological role of iodide secretion in the saliva is a matter of debate [4]. Given to its antioxidant properties, iodide may act as an