The Role of Carbonic Anhydrase Enzyme in Salivary Buffer Activity as a Marker in Caries Risk Assessment

A study was conducted to evaluate the activity of carbonic anhydrase (CA) and components of the buffer system (saliva pH and phosphate and bicarbonate buffer concentrations) in unstimulated and stimulated saliva of children with extremely high and extremely low risk of caries to determine and assess the risk of caries utilizing the saliva biomarker parameters. Included in the study were 123 children with permanent dentition and a mean age of 13.8 ± 0.8 years. Based on their DMF (D = decay, M = missing, F = filled, which represents the total number of teeth with caries, teeth with filling, and extracted teeth), the patients were divided into two groups: low caries risk group with an average DMF of zero (0) and high caries risk group with an average DMF of 7.7. Both non-stimulated and stimulated saliva samples were collected from patients in each group. When comparing the activities of CA of the examined groups, the study group with a low risk of caries had significantly higher activity (p <0.001) of this enzyme in both unstimulated and stimulated saliva relative to the high-risk group. High CA activity and better buffer parameters in saliva anticipated a lower caries incidence in children, suggesting that saliva CA activity is a crucial indicator of caries susceptibility.