EFFECT OF MOUTH RINSING WITH SOLUTIONS CONTAINING DIFFERENT COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SUGAR SUBSTITUTES ON SALIVARY PH- AN IN VIVO RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Background: Nowadays sugar free food and drinks have become very popular because of increased concerns related to obesity and overweight; as it is well known that sucrose has a negative impact on both general as well as oral health. These artificial sweeteners also have some side-effects when consumed in excess. In recent decade, stevia rebaudiana, a plant derived sugar is considered as a natural and healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners. Literature pertaining to the salivary pH changes related to stevia is limited. Objective: to assess the effect of mouth rinsing with solutions containing different commercially available sugar substitutes on salivary pH. Method: the present study is a randomized controlled trial with concurrent parallel design. 85 female students aged 20-25 years were randomly allocated to four different groups. Salivary pH assessments were performed at baseline and after mouth rinsing with different sugar solutions containing Aspartame, Sucralose, Saccharin, Stevia and distilled water at 1, 20 and 60 minutes respectively. One way Analysis of variance and repeated measures Analysis of variance followed by Tukey's post hoc tests were employed to analyze the data. Results: The results indicated that there was a statistical significant difference in the salivary pH values between group C (Stevia) and group E (Distilled water) after mouth rinsing at 20 minutes. In group C (Stevia) there was a significant rise in the salivary pH from baseline value to 1 min (p = 0.001) and 20 minutes (p = 0.005). Conclusions: Pattern of salivary pH changes after mouth rinsing with Stevia was similar to other artificial sweetener solutions which indicates that Stevia rebaudina can act as an excellent natural sugar substitute replacing the current artificial sweeteners and refined sugars and thereby help in tackling their side effects.