What increases the pH value?

The pH value in saliva reflects the acid-base balance in the whole body. If the pH value is too high, this indicates an alkaline metabolic state. This is called alkalosis.

This can be caused by metabolism or respiration. A metabolic alkalosis occurs when one has to vomit often. This is because the body then loses large quantities of stomach acid.

This means that the body has more bases in total and the pH value increases. This chronic vomiting can occur in the course of bulimia, for example. Other causes of metabolic alkalosis can be: Stomach flushing, diuretic therapy (diuretic drugs) or hypoalbuminemia (too little albumin in the blood) in liver failure or other diseases.

Respiratory alkalosis is caused by hyperventilation. Due to accelerated breathing, the body releases more CO2. Since CO2 acts as an acid in the blood, its absence leads to an alkaline metabolic state.

Causes for reduced CO2 pressure in the blood can also be: Staying at altitude, lung fibrosis, restrictive lung diseases and certain heart defects. A high activity of the salivary glands is accompanied by an increased pH value of the saliva. This can happen, for example, if you are constantly eating food.

Then the salivary glands become more active and produce more saliva faster and more, so that the pH value increases. In most cases, this is not a problem because the increased activity of the glands is not long-lasting. A slightly increased pH value even protects against caries.

However, if the pH value is constantly and strongly increased, this can also damage the teeth. In addition, the digestive enzymes in the saliva cannot work efficiently if the values deviate too much. Another reason for increased saliva flow can be chronic vomiting in bulimia. The body tries to balance the acidic pH of the gastric juice to protect the teeth.

What lowers the pH value?

If you eat food before the pH measurement (mainly in the form of carbohydrates, i.e. z.B. Sugar) and the mouth has not been cleaned (bacteria can cause an acidic environment), the values can be falsified into acid. However, the pH-value in the body can also be increased by other causes, this is called acidosis.

This can also be caused by metabolism or respiration. Metabolic acidosis can occur in poorly controlled diabetics. In these patients, the blood contains an increased amount of ketone bodies (acidic), this is called ketoacidosis.

Alcohol consumption and a long period of hunger (then there are also more ketone bodies in the blood) are further causes. A lot of sport can lead to lactic acidosis in the short term (lactate = lactic acid). In chronic diarrhoea, too much bicarbonate is lost and acidosis also occurs.

Respiratory causes acidosis in hypoventilation, when too little CO2 is breathed out. This can happen, for example, in obstructive lung diseases such as bronchial asthma or bronchitis. In carbohydrate-rich food, the bacteria of the oral flora produce many acids.

They can embed themselves in their own degradation products and together with them form a biofilm on the teeth, a plaque. More and more acid is produced, which now demineralizes the tooth. If the bacteria are deprived of their food for a short period of time, the tooth can often regenerate. However, if this does not happen, e.g. due to constant carbohydrate consumption and poor oral hygiene, demineralization continues to progress. The consequences are holes in the teeth and caries.