Determining Chemotherapy Agents in Saliva through Spectrometry and Chromatography Methods Correlated with Periodontal Status in Oncology Patients  
[PERSON]  
1 Periodontology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, \"[PERSON]\" University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iasi, 700115 Iasi, Romania; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (D.C.K.N.); [PERSON] (L.P.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (S.M.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (C.T.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (B.V.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (S.M.S);  
2 Dental Technology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, \"[PERSON]\" University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iasi, 700115 Iasi, Romania; [PERSON]ESS]  
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gemcitabine, a potent and specific deoxyctidine analog, is relatively well tolerated and in fewer cases does it induce side effects, such as anemia, neutropenia, or neutropogenic fever [9]. In plasma, cisplatin can be found in two forms: protein bound and free circulating, which represents the active form of the drug. Up to 90% of the administered cisplatin dose becomes bound and inactivated by pragmatic proteins [10]. Similar to cisplatin, oxaliplatin undergoes a series of biological transformations once it reaches the bloodstream and also splits into three fractions: total platinum, erythrocyte platinum, which is the protein bound form, and free oxaliplatin [11]. Gemcitabine is one of the most used drugs in oncology, ranking third worldwide. It represents the base treatment for pancreatic cancer [12] and a series of solid tumors, such as breast, ovary, pulmonary, and urinary bladder cancer [13; 14; 15].  
Saliva is valuable fluid from a diagnostic standpoint, which is used in several circumstances due to its complex and varied composition, which is often tightly related to the general status. Is has been used several times previously as an alternative to blood testing, for DNA analysis [16] or quantitative and qualitative testing of various drugs. Due to these reasons and the non-invasive character of the determinations, especially for oncology patients, we have chosen to use salivary analysis in the present study.  
Determining chemotherapy drug levels in saliva through spectrometry may offer useful information without additional risks [17]. Collecting saliva samples, however, can prove difficult due to hyposialia and xerostomia that may often occur in chemotherapy patients and it is a possible reason for the limited number of studies in the scientific literature on this subject.  
The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentration of chemotherapy drugs administered systematically in saliva and analyze the oral and periodontal clinical modifications in correlation with the chemotherapy levels present in the salivary fluid.