Variations of pH and salivary flow in the oral cavity in drug-dependent adolescent patients of the Centro de Atención Integral Niños y Adolescentes en Consumo de Sustancias Psicoactivas (CAINNACSP), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Description
Drug addiction can be defined as the constant use of one or several psychoactive substances, until reaching a level in which the user is frequently intoxicated, shows an excessive need to consume said substance and presents difficulty in voluntarily interrupting its use. The objective of this research was to determine the variations in pH and salivary flow in adolescent drug-dependent patients at the Center for Comprehensive Care of Children and Adolescents in the Consumption of Psychoactive Substances (CAINNACSP), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, during the period September - December 2022. Spearman's test was used, which determined that there was a statistically significant correlation between the frequency of e-cigarette and cannabis consumption in the line of salivary flow not stimulated for one minute with a p-value of (0.011); between e-cigarette in the line of salivary flow not stimulated for 1 minute showed a p-value of (0.046); and finally showing a relationship between age and salivary pH with a p-value of (0.012) in the complete sample. In the case group there was a greater variation in the salivary pH of the cases, being the alkaline pH the one with the highest percentage (14.8 %) in the occasional line. The same was true for ecstasy, cocaine and crack, which only resulted in one participant with an alkaline pH and a percentage of (1.8%). The variables ecstasy, crack and cocaine could not be evaluated or related to pH and salivary flow since there was insufficient sample to determine any statistically significant change.
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The population consisted of 25 patients between 10 and 18 years of age, consumers of psychoactive substances who attended CAINNACSP and 29 control patients who attended the Dr. René Puig Benz clinic of the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña. Three saliva samples were collected in test tubes and at different times, such as: salivary flow not stimulated for one minute, salivary flow stimulated for 1 minute and salivary flow stimulated for 2 minutes. to determine the salivary pH of each patient. The results showed that there was a larger population of male patients between the ages of 13 to 18 years, 30 male patients with 55.5% and 24 female patients with 44.4%, giving a total of 54 patients with 100%. The most frequently used drugs were alcohol and electronic cigarettes.