The effect of C-reactive protein and interleukin 12 in dental caries class V among diabetic patients

Background: Dental caries is a multifactorial disease; it is affected by many factors such as sugar consumption, exposure, fluoride, and others. Objectives: To investigate the immune status by studying the levels of interleukin 12 (IL-12) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) of individuals with dental caries among diabetic patients compared with diabetic patients with free dental caries and control groups. Materials and Methods: The study was designed to include 90 samples of GCF obtained from patients with diabetes and dental caries, patients with diabetes only without dental caries, and healthy subjects attending the Marjan medical city. The study duration was prolonged from November 2021 to March 2022. Results: The results showed that there were highly significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) in the concentration of IL-12 among healthy subjects. Both diabetetic patients with and without dental caries were represented by the increase in the concentration of IL-12. However, diabetetic patients with dental caries (74.86 ± 37.45) were more than those with free dental caries (53.26 ± 17.75) and even more than the control group. The contrast result showed a decrease in the level of CRP concentration in patients with diabetic and dental caries (2.589 ± 2.262) less than in patients with diabetes only (3.783 ± 2.408) and less than healthy subjects with significant differences (P ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: This study found that there was an elevation of the IL-12 level in patients with significant differences compared with control groups in contrast to a reduction in the concentration level of CRP patients with significant differences compared with the control group.