Effect of Khat Chewing on the Salivary pH before and after Using Mouthwashes

BACKGROUND: Saliva is a biological fluid that has multiple protective functions. These functions can be attained only if the saliva keeps certain physo-chemical properties such as pH. The main purpose of the current study was to compare the salivary pH among khat chewers and non-khat chewers before and after specific intervals (15, 30, and 60 minutes) of using three commercially available mouthwashes (MWs). METHODS: In this cross sectional study, thirty pharmacy student volunteers were divided into three groups of 10 for the three MWs. Each group was then subdivided into 5 volunteers as khat chewer and non-khat chewer. The statistical evaluation was carried out by using paired t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) for in vivo study of salivary pH. FINDINGS: Low salivary pH in all khat-user volunteers before and after using MWs was indicated. There was an increase in the salivary pH after 15 minutes of rinsing with the three selected MWs for both groups of volunteers, after that there was a gradual decrease to the initial pH. The difference between the three groups was not significant at baseline and after 15 minutes, but there was a significant difference after 30 and 60 minutes for the non-khat-chewing and khat-chewing volunteers. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that using MWs results in altering salivary pH and continuous khat chewing lowers the baseline pH of saliva and ability to compensate the change of salivary pH.