Phosphate Concentrations of Sterile Human Parotid Saliva and Its Relationship to Dental Disorders

Abstract

Aliquots of human saliva were analyzed spectrophotometrically immediately after collection. The method of analysis was based on the Sumner modification of the Fiske and Subbarow colorimetric determination of P as orthophosphate via molybdenum-blue. Determinations on adult male subjects yielded average results of 8.60, 7.36, 0.47, and 0.77 mg P/100 ml of parotid saliva for total phosphate, orthophosphate, pyrophosphate, and mixed organic phosphates, respectively. The possible relationships of these values to the dental disorders of calculus formation and tooth erosion were discussed.