Department of Oral Health Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Box 357475, Seattle, Wash. 98195-7475, USA.
J Am Dent Assoc. 2013 May;144(5):e31-40. doi: 10.14219/jada.archive.2013.0159.
Saliva is one of the intraoral host factors that influence caries development. The authors conducted a study to investigate whether salivary characteristics are associated with recent dental caries experience.
Dentist-investigators and dental staff members collected data pertaining to a two-year cumulative incidence of dental caries (previous 24 months) and salivary characteristics during baseline assessment in an ongoing longitudinal study. The systematic random sample consisted of patients (n = 1,763) visiting general dental practices (n = 63) within the Northwest Practice-based REsearch Collaborative in Evidence-based DENTistry (PRECEDENT). The authors estimated adjusted rate ratios (RRs) by using generalized estimating equations log-linear regression to relate salivary characteristics to coronal carious lesions into dentin.
Low resting pH (≤ 6.0) in the overall sample and low stimulated salivary flow rate (≤ 0.6 milliliter/minute) in older adults (≥ 65 years old) were associated with increased dental caries (RR, 1.6; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.1-2.2; RR, 2.4; 95 percent CI, 1.5-3.8, respectively). Low buffering capacity was associated with decreased dental caries in children and adolescents (RR, 0.3; 95 percent CI, 0.1-1.0; RR, 0.2; 95 percent CI, 0.1-0.7, respectively). A thick, sticky or frothy salivary consistency also was associated with decreased dental caries in adults (RR, 0.6; 95 percent CI, 0.4-1.0). Associations between other salivary characteristics and dental caries for the overall sample and within each age group were not statistically significant.
Salivary characteristics were associated weakly with previous dental caries experience, but the authors did not find consistent trends among the three age groups. Different salivary characteristics were associated with an increased caries experience in older adults and a lowered caries experience in children and adolescents and adults. Practical Implications. Further investigations are needed in this population setting to understand the study's conflicting results. The study findings cannot support the use of salivary tests to determine caries risk in actual clinical settings.
唾液是影响龋齿发生的口腔内宿主因素之一。作者进行了一项研究，以调查唾液特征是否与近期龋齿经历有关。
在一项正在进行的纵向研究中，牙医调查员和牙科工作人员在基线评估时收集了过去 24 个月（即过去 24 个月）的龋齿累积发生率和唾液特征的数据。系统随机抽样包括来自西北基于实践的循证牙科研究合作组织（PRECEDENT）中 63 个普通牙科诊所（n=1763）的患者。作者使用广义估计方程对数线性回归估计调整后的比率比（RR），以将唾液特征与牙本质中的冠部龋损相关联。
在总体样本中，静息 pH 值较低（≤6.0）和老年（≥65 岁）者刺激唾液流速较低（≤0.6 毫升/分钟）与龋齿增加相关（RR，1.6；95%置信区间[CI]，1.1-2.2；RR，2.4；95%CI，1.5-3.8）。低缓冲能力与儿童和青少年龋齿减少相关（RR，0.3；95%CI，0.1-1.0；RR，0.2；95%CI，0.1-0.7）。粘稠、泡沫状的唾液稠度也与成年人龋齿减少相关（RR，0.6；95%CI，0.4-1.0）。在总体样本和每个年龄组中，其他唾液特征与龋齿之间的关联均无统计学意义。
唾液特征与过去的龋齿经历有微弱的关联，但作者没有发现三个年龄组之间的一致趋势。不同的唾液特征与老年人的龋齿经历增加和儿童和青少年以及成年人的龋齿经历减少相关。实际意义。在人群环境中需要进一步调查以了解研究的矛盾结果。研究结果不能支持在实际临床环境中使用唾液检测来确定龋齿风险。
