Abstract:
Introduction: Smoking causes alterations in calcium and electrolytes metabolism. Electrolytes disturbance may lead to life threatening metabolic abnormalities such as coronary heart disease and osteoporosis. A descriptive cross sectional study aims to evaluate serum and saliva calcium, phosphate and magnesium in tobacco consumers and non tobacco consumers in Khartoum state.
Materials and Methods: 76 males tobacco consumers and 30 non-consumer males as control group were included. Serum and salivary (calcium, phosphate and magnesium) level were estimated by spectrophotometeric method, data analyzed using ANOVA test and Pearson correlation in SPSS computer program.
Results: The results showed high percentage of tobacco consumption among the youngest. Serum calcium level is decreased significantly in tobacco consumers versus control group (P-value 0.000), also saliva calcium significantly increased in tobacco consumers versus control group (P-value 0.000). The results of serum and salivary (phosphate and magnesium) showed insignificant variation in tobacco consumers when compared with the control group. Person's regression showed no correlation between (calcium, phosphate and magnesium) level with (age and duration of tobacco consumption).
Conclusion: In conclusion, salivary calcium increases with decreasing serum calcium in tobacco consumers, which lead to periodontal diseases and osteoporosis.
