Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1997 Oct;2(3):122-5.
doi: 10.1007/BF02931977.

No relationship of salivary flow rate or secretory immunoglobulin A to dental caries in children

Y Watanabe  1 , H Mizoguchi, K Masamura, T Nagaya
Affiliations

No relationship of salivary flow rate or secretory immunoglobulin A to dental caries in children

Y Watanabe et al. Environ Health Prev Med. 1997 Oct.

Erratum in

  • Erratum.
    Matsuda S, Omoto M, Imai T, Seki K, Nomura R, Otahara Y, Yoshida T, Shima S, Kurita H, Nagaoka K, Taniwaki H, Asada Y, Shai KP, Koike M, Morita K, Watanabe Y, Mizoguchi H, Masamura K, Nagaya T, Inaba R, Sugiura H, Iwata H, Tanaka T, Ohi G, Uemura I, Akabayashi A, Kai I, Miyasaka M, Naka K. Matsuda S, et al. Environ Health Prev Med. 1998 Apr;3(1):63-5. doi: 10.1007/BF02931242. Environ Health Prev Med. 1998. PMID: 21432511 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

To investigate the relationship between dental caries and the salivary flow rate, secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) or other components in children, nonstimulated whole saliva was collected and teeth status was examined in 138 boys and 134 girls aged 11-12 years. The subjects were apparently healthy. The mean salivary flow rate was faster in boys than in girls (0.29 vs 0.18 ml/min, p < 0.001). In both sexes, secretion of salivary sIgA and three other components (total protein, calcium and amylase activity) was markedly dependent on salivary flow rates. These results suggest that basal components of resting saliva are secondarily secreted with the flow of saliva fluid. The mean erupted permanent teeth was 21.0 teeth (range: 10-28 teeth) in boys, and 23.0 teeth (13-28 teeth) in girls (sex-difference: p < 0.001). The means of DMFT, the DMFT ratio (% of DMFT to erupted permanent teeth) and DT+dt (sum of decayed permanent and milk teeth, an index for active caries) were 3.4 DMFT (range: 0-11 DMFT), 16.0% (0-40.0%) and 0.5 DT+dt (0-7 DT + dt) in boys, and 3.8 DMFT (0-12 DMFT), 16.2% (0-44.4%) and 0.8 DT+dt (0-5 DT+dt) in girls, respectively (sex-differences: p>0.05 in all). The salivary flow rate or the four salivary components (either concentration or secretion rate) used here had no relationship to the DMFT ratio or to DT+dt in either sex. Variation in the flow rate or in the basal components of resting saliva may not influence caries development in healthy children.

Keywords: Children; Dental caries; Flow rate; Saliva; Secretory IgA.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Anonymous. Report on the Survey of Dental Disease 1993. Health Policy Bureau Ministry of Health and Welfare Japan, ed. Tokyo. Oral Health Association, 1995. (in Japanese)
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '7865081', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7865081/'}]}
    2. Lagerlof F, Oliveby A. Caries-protective factors in saleva. Adv Dent Res 1994 ;8: 229–38. - PubMed
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '1399047', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1399047/'}]}
    2. FDI working group. Saliva: its role in health and disease. Int Dent J 1992 ;42 : 291–304. - PubMed
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'DOI', 'value': '10.1111/j.1749-6632.1993.tb18354.x', 'is_inner': False, 'url': 'https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1993.tb18354.x'}, {'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '8215056', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8215056/'}]}
    2. Taubman MA, Smith DJ. Significance of salivary antibody in dental desease. Ann NY Acad Sci 1993 ;694: 202–15. - PubMed
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '7865082', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7865082/'}]}
    2. Edgar WM, Higham SM, Manning RH. Saliva stimulation and caries prevention. Adv Dent Res 1994 ;8: 239–45. - PubMed