— The concentrations of IgA, IgG and IgM in whole saliva of predentate babies, dentate adults, and edentulons old people, and the salivary IgG concentration of dentate old people, were determined using a solid phase radioimmunoassay. A highly significant difference in IgG concentratiorms was found between toothYess and dentate people. The average IgG concentrarion in the saliva of edentulous old people was 5.2 q/l, which was about 20° of that of dentate old people. The salivary IgG content of babies was only 1.7 q/I, which was in corxordance with the lovv postnatal serum IgG values. The salivary IgA level in this age group was also low. The edentulous old people tended to have decreased IgM values, and the predentate babies tended to have increased IgM values compared with the dentate adults.

No abstract