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

Background and aim: the hormonal changes associated with puberty,menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause exert varying effects on the saliva andoral health of women. the aim of this study was to investigate the effect ofpregnancy and menopause on saliva (ph and flow rate) and oral health utilizingsaliva sampling and oral examination.materials and methods: this case-control study was performed on 120 women inthree groups of pregnant women, menopause and control group (each group = 40).subjects were evaluated for any oral lesions and were examined for dmft, gingivalindex (gi) and community periodontal index (cpi), and their salivary flow rate andph were measured. data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics,analysis of covarience, partial spearman’s correlation coefficient, adjusted logisticregression.results: according to the ancova, there was a significant difference among groupsbased on the ph and salivary flow rate. the highest and lowest ph has beenobserved 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) andlowest in the menopausal group (2.12±0.85). there was no significant differenceamong the groups in terms of dmft, cpi and gi after adjusting the effect of age ascovariate. there was a significant difference between the three groups in terms ofxerostomia and halitosis (p <0.05).conclusion: both pregnancy and menopause lead to alterations in oral health. inthis investigation, the metrics of ph, xerostomia, and halitosis exhibited highervalues in the menopausal group compared to the pregnant group.