THE RELATION OF SALIVARY CITRATE TO DENTAL CARIES EXPERIENCE IN CHILDREN 12 to 14 YEARS OLD

¹ National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Bethesda, Md.

Whole, paraffin-stimulated saliva was collected from 144, 12- to 14-year-old children in 1950 and again in 1953. On the basis of the number of DMF teeth in 1950, the children were placed in either a low DMF (< 4 DMF teeth) or a high DMF category (> 12 DMF teeth for boys and > 14 DMF teeth for the girls). The increase in the number of DMF teeth in 1950-1953 was 2.6 for both the high and low DMF males, and 2.6 and 3.1 for the high and low females, respectively.

Whole saliva was analyzed for citrate in 1950 and 1953, and streptococcus and lactobacillus populations were determined in 1953 only. The females showed a statistically significant inverse relation between salivary citrate concentration and prevalence of caries in both 1950 and 1953, whereas no such relation was seen in the male. Both the streptococcus and the lactobacillus counts were inversely related to the salivary citrate concentration in the female, whereas a similar relation was not seen in the male.