Evaluation of Peri-Implantitis through Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy on Saliva.

Background: Peri-implantitis is characterized as a pathological change in the tissues around dental implants. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) provides molecular information from optical phenomena observed by the vibration of molecules, which is used in biological studies to characterize changes and serves as a form of diagnosis.

Aims: this case-control study evaluated the peri-implant disease by using FTIR spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance in the fingerprint region.

Methods: 38 saliva samples were evaluated, 17 from the control group and 21 from the peri-implantitis group. Clinical data such as plaque index (PI), gingival index, probing depth (PS), and attachment level were assessed.

Results: The results of clinical parameters showed a statistical difference between the two groups regarding an excess of the PI. In the FTIR-ATR analysis, the main components revealed vibrational modes of fatty acids, histidine, lipid esters, nucleic acids, and tryptophan, with the main molecules contributing to spectral discrimination. The five-component partial least-squares discriminant analysis classification model had an accuracy of 81%, showing differences between healthy and diseased implants.

Conclusion: the FTIR spectroscopy provides important molecular characteristics of the samples and the results in association with clinical data show the effectiveness of using this tool for diagnosing the disease.