CORRELATION BETWEEN FLOW, CONSISTENCY, QUANTITY, SALIVARY BUFFER CAPACITY AND BODY MASS INDEX (BMI) TO DMF-T

Background: Salivary characteristics include pH, salivary flow, consistency, composition, and saliva buffer capacity, so if changes occur, they will increase the risk of dental caries associated with the initial process and the speed of caries development. In addition to saliva, nutritional benefits can interfere with increased incidence of higher caries, reduced salivary secretion, decreased salivary buffer capacity, and qualitative changes in saliva. One of the parameters that can be used to measure nutritional status is the body mass index which also correlates with the DMF-T index. Objective: determine the correlation between flow, consistency, quantity, salivary buffer capacity, and body mass index (BMI) to the DMF-T index. Method: The group consisted of 78 respondents. Stimulated saliva samples were collected to measure salivary flow, saliva consistency, saliva quantity, and saliva buffer capacity using a saliva test buffer kit. Weight and height are measured to obtain a body mass index. Result: the average salivary flow of 1.9487, indicating a normal category because salivary flow occurs in less than 60 seconds. The average saliva quantity score was 2.6026, including normal at more than 5mL. The average buffer capacity is 2.6282, which means the standard is too high. The average BMI was 22.798, which indicated it had a normal weight and an average DMF-T level of 3.179 which belonged to the very low category. Conclusion: salivary parameters such as flow, buffer capacity, quantity, and BMI do not significantly correlate with the DMF-T index. However, one salivary parameter correlates to the DMF-T index, namely saliva viscosity.