Impact of Chewing Cardamom and Fennel Seeds on Salivary Ph: AHospital-Based Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Objective: To compare the changes in salivary pH by chewing fennel and cardamom seeds.
Methods:Afactorialrandomized controlled trialwas conducted in theDepartment ofOralDiagnosis,Altamash Institude of Dental Medicine, Karachi during February-April 2022. Following trial registration with the clinical trial. gov. (NCT05245019) and IRB approval, 75 subjects attending the Altamash Institute of Dental medicine after informed consent were enrolled and randomized into three groups. Group X as controls, Group A for chewing fennel and Group B for cardamom seeds. Salivary samples from controls once and the other two groups at baseline and immediately after 5 minutes of seed chewing, were determined using calibrated pH meter. Required statistical tests were applied to evaluate the results using SPSS 26.
Results: The mean salivary pH at baseline, and after 5 minutes of chewing seeds were statistically different in groups A(before vs after, p-value<0.01) and B (before vs after, P<0.01 respectively). When we compared the pH for the three groups together (group X control, group A and group B both after seed chewing) the results were statistically significant (p<0.01). Further, after the use of seeds in group Avs group B, the increase in pH was statistically significant; (p< 0.001).
Conclusion: Cardamom and fennel seeds significantly rise the salivary pH when compared to controls. However, cardamom seeds have proven to increase more salivary pH than fennel.

How to cite: Bashir TF, Arshad R, Khalid Z, Aslam E, Usman M. Impact of Chewing Cardamom and Fennel Seeds on
Salivary Ph: AHospital-Based Comparative Analysis. Esculapio - JSIMS 2022;18(04):248-252