Abstract
This quasi-experimental study sought to investigate if the mechanical control of biofilm (3-times-a-day) modifies the saliva’s ability to buffer the oral environment after 20% sucrose rinse (SR20%) in children with early childhood caries (ECC). Here, SR20% reduced the saliva’s pH in both groups and the mechanical control of biofilm had a greater effect on this parameter after SR20% in CF children. The mechanical control of biofilm evidenced a higher buffering capacity in CF children before SR20%, which was not observed after SR20%. Otherwise, the absence of mechanical control of biofilm showed that buffering capacity was comparable in the two groups before SR20%, whereas after SR20% the saliva’s buffering capacity of CF children was higher than ECC children. When biofilm was mechanically controlled, carbonic anhydrase VI activity did not change after SR20% whereas the absence of mechanical control of biofilm reduced this enzyme activity after SR20%. In conclusion, the mechanical control of biofilm did not change saliva’s ability to buffer the oral environment after SR20% in children with ECC. On the other hand, CF children appeared to regulate more effectively the saliva’s pH than ECC children while the absence of mechanical control of biofilm mediated their pH-modifying ability after SR20%.
Highlights
The dental biofilm is an essential organized structure in oral health due to the symbiotic relationship between commensal bacteria and the h ost[1]
Salivary flow rate increased after sucrose rinse (α = 0.000, β = 1.00, ηp2 = 0.41) and this effect was independent of the disease and biofilm
In CF children and after the sucrose rinse, there was a significant difference (p = 0.017, β = 0.75, ηp2 = 0.01) in saliva pH when the mechanical control of biofilm situation was compared with no mechanical control of biofilm (Fig. 2)
Summary
The dental biofilm is an essential organized structure in oral health due to the symbiotic relationship between commensal bacteria and the h ost[1]. If the dominant nutritional source shifts toward a frequent sucrose exposure, an adaptive metabolism provides a coercive environment for a dysbiotic s tate[3] In this sense, a highly specialized ecosystem with important modifications in the physical–chemical properties of saliva can be expected[4]. The saliva buffering capacity works more efficiently during stimulated flow rates[7] due to the increase in the bicarbonate ( HCO−3 ) secretion and loss of CO2 that will drive the equilibrium of bicarbonate system equation to the left (more alkaline) direction as represented here: [CO2 + H 2O ⇄ H2CO3 ⇄ HCO−3 + H + ]8 This phenomenon is upregulated by the catalytic property of carbonic anhydrase VI, which accelerates the neutralization of the chemical aggression caused by the microbial sucrose m etabolism[9,10,11]. Given the importance of α-amylase (α-AML) on oral physiology and dental caries d ynamic[16,17] as well as its biochemical link to CA V I18,19 and biological function[10,20,21] in the oral cavity, we hypothesized a contributory mechanism for pH homeostasis in the oral environment
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