The inorganic constituents of human saliva

Abstract

There is a growing opinion that many of the pathological conditions of the oral cavity (caries, pyorrhea, etc.) are the result of faulty diets. The acceptance of this assumption makes it necessary to know the normal constituents of the saliva. During the last year several investigators have reported on one or more of the salivary constituents but a complete correlation between the dietary and salivary constituents is lacking. The work presented here is very incomplete and represents only one phase of a complete survey of the mineral metabolism being made on a number of adult human subjects.

The results thus far, given in a brief form in the following table, have been obtained from weekly analysis of saliva samples from six healthy adults, all of whom have been on a fixed diet for a periods of eight weeks.