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- Many studies have attempted to relate levels of
- antimicrobial proteins in saliva to oral health;
- results have been inconsistent, and one reason
- might be inconsistency of measures of plaque and
- saliva within subjects. This study investigated
- associations between plaque and salivary variables
- in longitudinal data. Whole saliva, and 8-h plaque
- pooled from buccal first permanent molars, was
- obtained from 32 dental students on Tuesdays from 3:
- 00-6:00 p.m. over 4 weeks. Salivary flow rate was
- determined, and samples were assayed for lysozyme,
- lactoferrin, total peroxidase, myeloperoxidase,
- OSCN-, sIgA and total protein. Colonies on mitis-
- salivarius agar were assigned to Streptococcus
- sanguis, Strep. mutans or Strep. salivarius on the
- basis of morphology, supplemented by the API Rapid
- Strep identification system. Consistency of values
- within subjects across weeks was evaluated by
- repeat-measures analysis of variance and intraclass
- correlation; data were transformed to reduce
- skewness. Pearson's r was used to determine
- associations between plaque and salivary variables.
- Significant intraclass correlations (alpha = 0.05)
- were found for all salivary variables except
- myeloperoxidase, and for total flora, total
- streptococci, Strep. sanguis and Strep. sanguis as
- a proportion of total streptococci. Significant
- Pearson correlations with Strep. sanguis as a
- proportion of total streptocci were found for total
- protein (r = -0.24), sIgA (r = -0.22), lactoferrin
- (r = 0.19) and OSCN- (r = 0.20) when data from all
- weeks were pooled (n = 128). Strep. sanguis
- proportions tended to bc low in subjects with high
- values for salivary proteins; the range of
- proportions was wider in subjects with low salivary
- values. These findings suggest some consistency of
- weekly values for many plaque and salivary
- variables. They also support previous cross-
- sectional data which suggested that salivary
- antimicrobial proteins may have some effect on
- plaque composition. This study was made before
- recent revisions in streptococcal taxonomy, and
- further research is needed to clarify interactions
- of salivary proteins with currently defined species.
-