[Low caries activity and salivary pH in youngsters dialyzed for chronic renal failure]

Caries experience was studied in 18 young patients dialyzed for chronic renal failure and aged 7 to 17 years. The mean plaque index (Silness and Löe, 1964) was 1.89 +/- 0.15. Beside abundant plaque, these patients presented with poor oral hygiene and a food intake rich in sugars. Despite these unfavourable factors, caries experience was low. Of a total of 18 patients, ten (56%) had a DMF of 0. In addition, 11 subjects presented dental hypoplasias on more than two teeth. In these patients, the pH of whole saliva was determined at the beginning of the dialysis at time T and at the end of the dialysis at time To. The values at time T were always higher than those of time To. The mean pH at time T was 8.58 +/- 0.01 and the mean pH at time To was 8.09 +/- 0.01. These high salivary pH values are related to the low caries experience noted in these patients.