Correlation between dental erosion and Salivary Pepsin.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Is there a correlation between dental patients presenting with tooth erosion's and having the presence of salivary Pepsin compared to patients who do not have tooth erosion's.
IRAS ID
206891
Contact name
Peter W Dettmar
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
RD Biomed Limited
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
3 saliva samples will be collected anonymously from each participant from a local dental practice and analysed for the enzyme pepsin. We will be collecting samples from participants with and without dental erosion's, we would expect to see participants with dental erosion's to have pepsin and perhaps at high levels. We would expect to see participants without dental erosion's to have no or low levels of pepsin. If pepsin is detected in saliva it is an indication of reflux disease (which is a cause of dental erosion) as pepsin is produced in the stomach to aid digestion of proteins. If pepsin is found in saliva it suggests it has been refluxed into the throat/mouth. Participants will receive a consent form to sign. Participants will be provided with the equipment and instructions at the dental practice and be asked to take home to produce saliva samples there and send in the samples (using the provided free-post envelope) to the laboratory for analysis. All participants will complete a reflux questionnaire (reflux symptom index, RSI) to establish if they have any reflux symptoms. Saliva samples are analysed for pepsin using a diagnostic test called Peptest. Peptest measures the presence of pepsin in a saliva sample. Peptest can not only indicate whether pepsin is present or not but also the amount. The study will run for approximately 3 months. The number of participants can not yet be provided, it is hoped approximately 100 in total.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0409
Date of REC Opinion
11 Oct 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion