The measurement of saliva and tongue coating pH in patients with physiological halitosis before and after using selected mouthwashes

To analyze saliva and tongue coating pH in healthy patients with physiological halitosis before and after usage of 5 different types of mouthwash available in Malaysia. A quasiexperimental study was conducted among preclinical IIUM dental students aged 18 to 21 years old. Organoleptic evaluation was conducted by the operator to rank their organoleptic score followed by self-assessment by the participants. Saliva and tongue coating pH we measured respectively beforehand, immediately after and 30 minutes after rinsing with 5 different mouthwashes using a digital pH meter and pH strip indicator respectively; 100 participants were assigned into 5 groups, with 20 samples for each brand. Intraclass correlation coefficient between examiners ranged from 0.76-1.0. Data were analyzed statistically by repeated measure ANOVA test for each brand of mouthwash. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) + test was also used to statistically analyze different pH trends among the five brands of mouthwashes. Significant increase of salivary pH was observed after using MW2 (p<0.001) and MW4 (p=0.015). Significant reduction in salivary pH was observed when using MW5 (p=0.001). For tongue coating pH, significant reduction was observed after using MW2 (p