Salivary flow rate in adult Kenyans and its relationship with chronic periodontitis

The study is aimed at determining the salivary flow rate (SFR) in adult Kenyans and investigates its relationship with chronic periodontitis. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on 333 participants (age between 18 and 45 years) among the patients attending Nairobi University Dental Hospital over a period of five months. Three groups were identified based on their periodontal status as healthy, gingivitis and chronic periodontitis. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected using the spit method. The British Society of Periodontology Basic Periodontal Examination index was used to determine the periodontal status of the participants. The salivary flow rate (g/min) ranged between 0.14 and 1.98 g/min in males and 0.08 and 1.68 g/min in females. The mean SFR was 0.66 ±0.31 g/min SD with a mode of 0.30 g/min.  256 participants were normal secretors within the range of 0.3 and 1.0 g/min, 43 were high secretors with over 1.0 g/min while 32 were low secretors with a range of 0.1 and 0.29 g/min. Participants with chronic periodontitis had a statistically significant higher salivary flow rate (M=0.68+0.33 SD) than those who had gingivitis (M=0.62+0.28 SD) with p=0.039. The unstimulated salivary flow rate in adult Kenyans is 0.66 g/min, which falls within the reported normal range. The salivary flow rate was found to increase with the severity of periodontitis suggesting a link between the two. Key words: Saliva, salivary flow rate, chronic periodontitis.