Salivary spinability and periodontal disease progression in an elderly population

To explore the relationship between the spinability of stimulated whole saliva and periodontal disease progression over 12 months in an elderly population.

Three hundred and thirty-two subjects aged 76 years at baseline were studied. Attachment loss was calculated on a site-by-site basis, and periodontal disease progression was defined as an attachment loss of >or=3mm. Stimulated whole saliva was collected and salivary spinability (SS) was measured. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed to assess the relationship between periodontal disease progression and SS after controlling for other covariates. The independent variables were selected from those which had significant relationships with disease progression in the bivariate analyses.

Mean SS was 1.94+/-0.42 mm in males and 1.88+/-0.32 mm in females; this difference was not significant. Simple linear regression analysis showed a significant positive relationship between periodontal disease progression and SS (P=0.026), whereas there was no significant relationship between periodontal disease progression and salivary flow rate. Multiple regression analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between periodontal disease progression and SS (P=0.024) after controlling for the number of remaining teeth and baseline periodontal conditions. The model explained 15.5% of the variance in the percentage of sites where the disease had progressed.

These findings suggest that elderly subjects with viscous saliva are prone to periodontal disease progression.