Comparison of Salivary pH, Flow Rate, and Oral Health During Pregnancy and Menopause

The hormonal changes associated with puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause exert varying effects on the saliva and oral health of women. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pregnancy and menopause on saliva (pH and flow rate) and oral health utilizing saliva sampling and oral examination.

This case-control study was performed on 120 women in three groups of pregnant women, menopause and control group (each group = 40). Subjects were evaluated for any oral lesions and were examined for DMFT, gingival index (GI) and community periodontal index (CPI), and their salivary flow rate and pH were measured. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, Analysis of Covarience, partial Spearman’s correlation coefficient, adjusted logistic re-gression.

According to the ANCOVA, there was a significant difference among groups based on the pH and salivary flow rate. The highest and lowest pH has been observed in menopausal (6.80±0.42) and pregnant (6.02±0.5) group, respectively. The mean salivary flow rate was highest in the pregnant group (2.91±0.92) and lowest in the menopausal group (2.12±0.85). There was no significant difference among the groups in terms of DMFT, CPI and GI after adjusting the effect of age as covariate. There was a significant difference between the three groups in terms of xerostomia and hali-tosis (p <0.05).

Both pregnancy and menopause lead to alterations in oral health. In this investigation, the metrics of pH, xerostomia, and halitosis exhibited higher values in the menopausal group compared to the pregnant group.