Salivary Indicators for a Healthy Mouth: An In Vivo Study

Abstract

Article InfoThe study aimed to assess salivary properties like salivary pH, buffering capacity and S.mutans count before and after restoration of carious lesions of primary teeth in children aged 6-12 years using three different restorative materials i.e. GIC, SS crown and composite, and divided into three groups of ten each and restored with the above materials respectively. 5ml of stimulated saliva was collected after thorough oral prophylaxis, pH was recorded using pH strips and buffering capacity by salivary buffering capacity test and S.mutans count was done by inoculating 1ml of saliva in MSB agar plate and counted after 3 days. The second and the third samples were collected on fifteenth and thirtieth day of restorations and assessed for the same. The analysed results showed a statistically significant increase in both salivary pH and buffering capacity and a decrease in S.mutans count in all the three groups when compared to the baseline data. No significant difference was seen between the groups. Hence, concluded that restoration of the tooth itself improves the salivary properties like salivary pH and buffering capacity and decreases the S.mutans count, irrespective of the materials used.