The effect of stress on salivary metal ion content in orthodontic patients.

Psychological stress can alter the environment in favor of corrosion of orthodontic alloys by changing the properties of saliva. This study aimed to assess the effect of stress induction on salivary nickel and chromium content in fixed orthodontic patients. Thirty patients were enrolled in this experiment. Saliva sample collection was performed at four time points: T1, before insertion of orthodontic appliances; T2, 3 months after the initiation of orthodontic treatment, before induction of stress; T3, 15 min following the induction of stress by Trier Social Stress Test; and T4, 30 min following the induction of stress. Ion content was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The obtained data were analyzed by repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc Bonferroni test. The mean amount of salivary nickel increased from 11.9 ± 5.1 μg/L at T1 to 14.1 ± 5.3 μg/L at T4. This increase was found significant only at T4 comparing to T1. The average salivary chromium content changed from 4.1 ± 2.3 μg/L at T1 to 5.1 ± 3.3 μg/L at T4. None of the differences were significant for chromium. In conclusion, induction of stress in this study led to a significant increase in nickel release from orthodontic appliances into saliva. The salivary chromium content however was not significantly altered, yet gradually increased.