Salivary pH and oral health of Brazilian para‐athletes: Saliva and oral health of para‐athletes

• Published in: Special care in dentistry Vol. 41; no. 4; pp. 505 - 511
• Main Authors: Brancher, João Armando, Morodome, Fernanda, Madalena, Isabela Ribeiro, Reis, Caio Luiz Bittecourt, Von Held, Rodrigo, Antunes, Lívia Azeredo Alves, Winckler, Ciro, Salgueirosa, Fabiano, Neto, Zair Candido Oliveira, Storrer, Carmen Lucia Muller, Küchler, Erika Calvano, Antunes, Leonardo Santos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-07-2021
• Subjects: Age; Body mass index; Dentistry; oral health; Oral hygiene; pH effects; physical disability; Saliva; saliva; oral health; physical disability
• ISSN: 0275-1879; 1754-4505
• DOI: 10.1111/scd.12589

Aims
This study aimed to investigate the association of the salivary pH and parameters of oral health in Brazilian para‐athletes.
Methods and results
The sample was composed of 271 Brazilian para‐athletes (147 athletics, 61 powerlifting, and 63 swimming); mean age was 31.2 ± 11.7 years. Data collected during anamnesis, clinical examination, and saliva collection revealed that salivary pH was different among sports (p = .01) and tends to decrease as age and body mass index (BMI) increase (p = .026, .027, respectively). The mean decay missing filled teeth was 8.8 (±0.57), but there is no correlation with salivary pH (R2 = −0.0852; CI 95%, −0.215–0.047; p = .194) as habits of grinding, clenching teeth, or bruxism was not associated with salivary pH (p = .317, .932, and .444, respectively). Regarding breathing, para‐athletes that have buccal breathing had significantly higher salivary pH (p = .04). This data were confirmed by multiple logistic regression (p = .05). Open bite, lip seal, geographic or fissured tongue also were not associated with variation of salivary pH (p > .05).
Conclusions
This study provided evidence of an association between salivary pH with age, BMI, type of breathing, and type of sport practiced by the para‐athletes