Salivary characteristics of children and its relation to oral microorganism and lip mucosa dryness

The aim of this paper was to present baseline data on various saliva properties among a group of Saudi children

aged 5 to 11 years and to study the relationship of these properties to some oral micro-organisms as well

as to lip and oral mucosa dryness. The results showed a mean of resting and stimulated flow rate of 0.54+

0.40 and 1.23±0.59 respectively and mean pH value of 7.27±0.38 and 7.5±.035 respectively. Fluoride concentration

was estimated to be 0.151±0.07 and 0.145±0.06 in resting and stimulated saliva respectively. Children

with dry lip represented 33.9% of the sample population, whereas, those with dry mucosa represented

only 0.8%. No significant sex difference was evident in all parameters. 59.1% of children showed medium

buffering capacity in the resting saliva, whereas, the majority of children (73.7%) showed high stimulated

buffering capacity. Children showed generally high Lactobacillus counts (Lb) in the resting and stimulated

saliva (57.9% and 60.5% of children).The presence of yeast also in resting and stimulated saliva seemed high

in general (40% and 53% of children had high count). However, Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) counts

showed no discriminating trend in both types of saliva. The data showed no significant association between

flow rate and Lb counts in both resting and stimulated saliva although there was a trend toward higher

counts associated with low flow rate. The same trend was observed in resting saliva although not significant.

Similarly, low resting buffering capacity was associated with high counts of Lb among a high proportion of

children (68.6% of children) although not significant. A significant reverse relation was evident between

S. mutans counts and stimulated flow rate (p=0.049).The majority of children with normal level of saliva pH

showed no yeast colonization (62.1%). The association was significant (p=.024). Similarly, the same association

was observed in the medium and high buffering group (66.2%) (p=.040). It was concluded that salivary

Lb count seems to be primarily affected by some local factors other than salivary properties, such as

diet. Significant inverse relationship was found between S. mutans and stimulated salivary flow. Children in

general showed high percentage of yeast reflecting the affect of poor diet among the studied population

group. Buffering capacity and pH had an important role in yeast colonization.

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