Salivary pH as a Factor in Oral Health and its Correlation with Diet Swathy S.1, Muralidharan N.P.2,* 1Undergraduate Student, Department of Microbiology, Saveetha Dental College, SIMATS, Saveetha University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 2Reader, Department of Microbiology, Saveetha Dental College, SIMATS, Saveetha University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu *Corresponding Author: Muralidharan. N.P., Department of Microbiology, Saveetha Dental College, SIMATS, Saveetha University, 162, Poonamallee High Road, Chennai-600077, Tamil Nadu, India e-mail: mugaidar@yahoo.com, Phone number: 9840560487
Online published on 23 December, 2019. Abstract Aim The study aims to determine how Indian foods affect salivary ph. This study also includes assessment of correlation between different food items and occurrence of dental caries. Methodology 100 subjects were included in this study. By means of a questionnaire, They were asked to choose the food they consume predominantly on a daily basis. Their salivary pH values were noted down with the help of pH paper. DMFT index was used to assess their risk for dental caries. Results 87 percent of individuals consumed rice every day. Among these individuals, 64 percent of them, had DMFT scores greater than 5 and 72 percent of them had an acidic pH.. Also, there was no significant differences between the pH values of vegetarians and non-vegetarians. This may be because the non-vegetarians in this study consumed meat only rarely or twice or thrice in a week. The survey results were coded using Microsoft Excel (2007) and percentage information was obtained for each category of comparison. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software(version 20; independent T-Test was used) Conclusion In this study population, there is a direct influence of diet (mainly carbohydrates) in the development of caries Top Keywords Caries, diet, pH, risk, saliva. Top |