Salivary flow among patients with minor recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis

Objective: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is a common oral mucosal disease that despite plenty of studies on it, its aetiopathogenesis is still unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate any potential changes of the whole unstimulated salivary flow rate among RAS patients, hence, a probable role of quantitative saliva changes in the course of RAS may be discovered. Method: The whole unstimulated salivary rate was measured using passive drooling method in 41 minor RAS patients in both acute (the presence of active ulcer(s) that has/have appeared no more than 72 hours) and remission phases (After one week of complete healing of ulcer(s)) of the disease. Patients were followed in a monthly basis for one year, and information related to the recurrence rate and the number of active ulcers were obtained and recorded. Data were entered in SPSS software version 19, then analyzed using Independent t-test, Paired t-test, and Pearson Correlation coefficient at significance level of 0.05. Result: No significant difference was noticed regarding the whole unstimulated salivary flow rate between patients (Mean=0.56 ml/min, SD=0.14) and healthy controls (Mean=0.54 ml/min, SD= 0.12, P>0.05), or in patients themselves between the two phases of the disease (Mean acute = 0.61 ml/min, SD= 0.18, Mean remission =0.56ml/min, SD=0.14, P>0.05). However, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between salivary flow rate; and both recurrence rate (r=0.32, P<0.05), and the average number of accompanying ulcers (r=0.41, P