Determinación de pH y proteínas totales en saliva en pacientes con y sin aparatología ortodóncica fija (estudio piloto)

Abstract

The objective of this study was the determination of the total protein concentration and pH in samples of human saliva in patients of 15-25 years old subject to orthodontic treatment. The patients were selected from the Orthodontics Postgraduate Clinic of the Facultad de Odontología UNAM, with and without orthodontic appliances. They were asked to abstained from eating, drinking, smoking and to carry out oral hygiene two hours before the recollection of stimulated and non-stimulated saliva; the samples were taken under the same conditions, by the same person between 8 and 10 a.m. The samples were stored at –20ºC. Later spectrophotometry was used with the Bradford technique to determine the total proteins and the salivary pH was measured using a potentiometer. Statistically significant differences between control group and the experimental in the pH of the total non- stimulated saliva (t of Student p < 0.05) without significative statistics difference of the protein concentration in both saliva were obtained.