Perbandingan Efektifitas Mengunyah Tebu (Saccharum officinarum) dan Permen Karet Xylitol terhadap pH Saliva di Panti Asuhan Amal Al-Washliyah

Abstract

Oral and dental diseases are still widely suffered by people in Indonesia from adults to children. The results of the Basic Health Research (RISKESDAS) in 2018, there were 45.3% of Indonesians suffering from dental caries and only 4.1% had done a filling due to caries. The degree of salivary acidity is a key factor in the balance between dental demineralization and remineralization acids, therefore a decreased salivary pH is one of the factors causing dental caries. The normal value of salivary pH is 6.7 to 7.4. The pH value of saliva falling ≤ 5.5 means that the situation is very critical. Efforts must be made so that there is no decrease in salivary pH, one of which is by chewing sugar cane and xylitol gum. This study aims to determine the comparison of the effectiveness of chewing sugar cane with xylitol gum. The type of research conducted was a quasi-experiment with a pre-test and post-test design. The research sampling technique used purposive sampling technique. Data collection was carried out by examining salivary pH before and after chewing sugar cane and xylitol gum in 30 children aged 6-12 years consisting of 15 boys and 15 girls. The variables of this study were tested with Wilcoxon test, Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test. The results of the Wilcoxon test in this study showed a significant difference between salivary pH before and after chewing sugar cane with a value of p = 0.004, a significant difference between salivary pH before and after chewing xylitol with a value of p = 0.004 and there was a significant difference between salivary pH before and after chewing paraffin with a value of p = 0.011. The Mann-Whitney test showed the comparison of the sugar cane chewing group with xylitol obtained a value of p=0.648. The comparison group of sugar cane with paraffin obtained a value of p = 0.067 and the comparison group of xylitol with paraffin obtained a value of p = 0.038. From the Mann-Whitney test in the sugar cane group for male and female gender, the value of p=0.513. The xylitol group had a value of p=0.072 and the paraffin group had a value of p=0.339.