Abstract
Background: Salivary pH plays an important role in maintaining oral health and influencing the demineralization and remineralization of dental hard tissues. Polyol-containing products, such as xylitol chewing gum and xylitol–erythritol lollipops, may help promote salivary pH recovery following exposure to fermentable carbohydrates.
Aim: To evaluate and compare changes in salivary pH among children following the use of xylitol chewing gum, xylitol–erythritol lollipops, and a water-rinse control.
Materials and Methods: This in vivo comparative study included 45 children aged 4–8 years, allocated into three groups of 15 participants each. Group I received a tap-water mouth rinse, Group II received a xylitol–erythritol lollipop, and Group III received xylitol chewing gum. Salivary pH was assessed at baseline (T1), 15 minutes after consumption of a caloric beverage (T2), and following the assigned intervention (T3). The data were analysed using repeated-measures analysis of variance, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05.
Results: Mean salivary pH decreased following beverage consumption in all three groups. At T3, the mean salivary pH was 6.08 ± 0.20 in the control group, 6.48 ± 0.21 in the lollipop group, and 6.39 ± 0.22 in the chewing-gum group. The highest mean pH was observed in the xylitol–erythritol lollipop group, followed by the xylitol chewing-gum group and the control group.
Conclusion: Both xylitol-containing interventions demonstrated greater descriptive recovery of salivary pH than the water-rinse control, with the highest mean pH observed in the lollipop group. Further studies using verified experimental data and longer follow-up periods are required to determine the clinical relevance of these findings.
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