Relationship Between Oral Findings and Salivary Factors in Sars-Cov-2 Patients

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) is the virus responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which also affects all systems of the body including the oral environment. Recent studies have demonstrated the association between oral health status and systemic diseases. including systemic infections and respiratory diseases. Aim of this study is to analyze the immunoglobulin and cytokine levels of SARS-CoV-2 patients and correlate the oral health status of these patients. Our hypotheses are, 1) Covid-19 affects individuals with low oral hygiene (high DMFT score) more severely, 2) Oral cytokine levels will increase similarly to blood levels in patients with Covid-19, 3) Oral immunoglobulin levels in patients with Covid-19 decreased similarly to those in blood. Oral examination of 100 Covid (+) patients which were hospitalized due to acute respiratory failure will be performed in the dental department of each faculty hospital. Decay-Missing-Filled Tooth (DMFT) scores, visible gingival plaque index (Löe-Silness), Bleeding on Probing (BoP) scores, and orthopantomographs (OPG) will be collected for each participant. Oral swap specimens will be collected (6 sample for each person) to evaluate the levels of salivary immunoglobulins (IgA, IgG, IgM) and cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, IL-10) on 1st, 7th, and 30th days. ELISA test will be performed for immunological analysis with ready-made kits (SunRed Biotech. Co, Shanghai, China). Full blood analyses will be performed to validate and correlate the actual cytokine and immunoglobulin levels.