ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Healthcare Professions Education
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1568047
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Teaching and Learning in Health Education and PromotionView all 32 articles
Analysis of the Impact of Clinical Practices on Salivary Biomarkers of Inflammation and Stress in Oral Surgery Postgraduate Students: A Pilot Study
Provisionally accepted
Laura Barrientos-Moral1,2María José Gimeno-Longas3Cristina Obispo-Díaz2
ANDREA MARTÍN-VACAS2*
MARTA MACARENA PAZ-CORTES2,4*Juan Manuel Aragoneses5- 1Department of Systems Biology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
- 2Faculty of Dentistry, Alfonso X El Sabio University, 28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain., Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain
- 3Department of Cell Biology and Histology, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain., Madrid, Asturias, Spain
- 4Clinical Specialties Department, Faculty of Dentistry. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- 5Department of Dental Research, Federico Henriquez y Carvajal University, Santo Domingo 10106, Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
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Aim: to assess through salivary biomarkers if clinical practices generate stress and a systemic inflammatory response in dental surgery post-graduate students.Materials and Methods: a cross-sectional analytical observational study was conducted with students from the Master's in Clinical Dentistry program. Salivary samples were collected before and after surgical procedures to quantify stress (cortisol) and inflammation biomarkers (IL-6, IL-1β, and CRP). Additionally, students completed the Perceived Stress Scale questionnaire prior to the surgical procedure. Descriptive and analytic statistics were conducted with a 95% significance level.Results: a total analyzed sample included 21 subjects, with a mean age of 25.5 years. The influence of academic year, gender, or smoking status was none found to have a significant impact. The results show a significant decrease in cortisol levels between the pre-and post-measurements (mean difference=-108.2±166.7). However, an increase in IL-6 levels was obtained (p<0.05). High IL-6 levels were associated with elevated CRP levels. An inverse relationship was seen between perceived stress and salivary cortisol concentrations.The findings show a significant decrease in salivary cortisol (stress) levels and a significant increase in salivary IL-6 levels following a dental implantology procedure in postgraduate oral surgery students.
Keywords: Dentistry, dental education, Oral surgery, Inflammation Mediators, biomarkers
Received: 28 Jan 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Barrientos-Moral, Gimeno-Longas, Obispo-Díaz, MARTÍN-VACAS, PAZ-CORTES and Aragoneses. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
ANDREA MARTÍN-VACAS, Faculty of Dentistry, Alfonso X El Sabio University, 28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain., Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain
MARTA MACARENA PAZ-CORTES, Faculty of Dentistry, Alfonso X El Sabio University, 28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain., Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain
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