Effect of sorbitol on salivary flow rate

• Published in: Journal of Advanced Clinical and Research Insights 2014-07, Vol.1 (1), p.14-17
• Main Authors: Raju, Shashidara, Sridhara, Sudheendra Udyavara, Gopalkrishna, Aparna H., Haragannavar, Vanishri C., Vinod, Roshini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Artificial sweeteners; Diabetes; Mouth; Oral hygiene
• ISSN: 2393-8625; 2393-8625
• DOI: 10.15713/ins.jcri.5

The aim of the study is to investigate if the increased salivary flow rates obtained on chewing gum artificially sweetened with sorbitol is due to mastication or the active constituent of the gum i.e, sorbitol. The study consisted of 30 volunteers from Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences. The materials used in the study were sorbitol sweetened gums (SSGs), liquid sorbitol (LS) 70% concentration I.P from the company Gayatri Bio Organics Limited, paraffin wax (PW), and graduated beaker for measuring the saliva. The study was conducted in the morning hours from 9 am to 10 am by collecting un-stimulated saliva (US) from the subjects and by asking each of the subject to consume all the 3 constituents after each of which saliva was collected and measured using a calibrated beaker. Pairwise comparison was done between US and saliva obtained after LS, SSGs, PW among the entire 30 subjects and also comparison between all the four groups using paired sample t-test. The pairwise comparison showed a significant difference between mean US and mean saliva obtained from SSGs and LS, but no significant difference was found between US and saliva obtained after chewing PW. The comparison between all four groups showed that there was no significant difference between LS and SSG P? =? 0.346, there was a significant difference between LS and PW P = 0.001 and also between SSG and paraffin P = 0.001. Sorbitol the active ingredient of artificially sweetened gums seems to be responsible for the increase in salivation rather than the act of mastication.