Probiotics improve total salivary antioxidant level, physical properties of saliva: Study

With increasing incidence of antibiotic resistance, alternative therapeutic treatment options are coming into picture. WHO claims probiotics to be the next most important immune defence system following antibiotic resistance.

Probiotics are effective in increasing antioxidant level thereby minimizing cellular damage and hence can be used for prevention of several diseases, finds a study conducted at the Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, AB Shetty Memorial institute of Dental Sciences, Nitte, India, published recently in the Journal of Otolaryngology –ENT Research.

Saliva being an alternative diagnostic tool poses several advantages over plasma. Its availability, easy collection, possibility of repeated non-invasive sampling, simpler technique and faster interpretation makes it ideal for screening, diagnosing and monitoring various diseases.

Very few studies have been performed on understanding the pathophysiology of oxidative stress in saliva and the potential role of probiotics on salivary antioxidant level have never been evaluated. Also the effect of probiotics on salivary buffering capacity and pH is not well understood. Mithra N Hegde and colleague Mrinalini tried to unveil the antioxidant property of probiotics in saliva along with its effect on salivary pH and buffering capacity.

The authors used unstimulated saliva from 10 individuals. The samples were analysed for total antioxidant level, pH and buffering capacity using spectrophotometer, pH paper and buffering strips respectively, before and after probiotic intake for 2 weeks.

It was found that probiotic intake led to increase in total salivary antioxidant level with no significant changes in pH and buffering capacity. Results obtained were statistically analysed using "paired t-test".

Hence, it was concluded that "probiotics are effective in increasing antioxidant level thereby minimizing cellular damage and hence can be used for prevention of several diseases. Also increase in antioxidant level can be easily assessed in saliva, thus, saliva can be used as a routine diagnostic tool."

Hegde MN, Mrinalini. Effect of probiotics on total salivary antioxidant level and physical properties of saliva: An ex-vivo study. J Otolaryngol ENT Res.2021;13(2):13?16. DOI: 10.15406/joentr.2021.13.00483