Salivary Flow Rate in Human Population with High Radon Exposure and Its Correlation to Caries

摘要

Radon is a radioactive substance derived from a uranium compound, it is odorless and colorless. It can radiate an alfa beam which is capable of damaging the performance of the salivary gland causing decreased saliva volume. This diminishes the self-cleansing ability of the teeth and encourages the development of caries. Our method in this research was observational and a cross sectional survey was used. There were 100 samples, consisting of 50 residents from Cipatat village and 50 residents from Gunung Masigit village. The research was conducted by measuring the salivary flow rate and the prevalence of caries in the two villages. The difference in saliva flow rate between residents in the area with high radon concentration, (0,231 ml/minute) and residents in the area with low radon concentration (0.467 ml/minute) was significant (p-value = 0.000, <0.005). The prevalence of caries in the area with a high radon concentration (11.84) was significantly higher than that in the low radon concentration area (7.6) (p-value = 0.000, < 0.05). The correlation between the salivary flow rate and the prevalence of caries in the high radon content village had an r value of -0.043 and a p-value of 0.768. The conclusion of this research is therefore that there is no correlation between salivary flow rate and prevalence of caries in residents in the high radon concentration area.