The Effect of Chewing Sugar Cane on Plaque Formation

Abstract

Plaque is a non-calcified deposit that coating the teeth and consist of 70% microbial with the presence of sugar. Plaque coulddevelop into dental caries. Sugar cane has been used for centuries due to its high content of sucrose and nutrition. People nowadays still consuming it raw by chewing. This study aims to determine the differences in plaque formation after chewing sugar cane. This is a quasi-experimental with 30 caries-free respondents as a control and treatment group. Respondent brushed their teeth toset the plaque score that measured with PHP-M index to 0(which called pre-test). The respondent then chewed the sugar cane for32 times. Plaque score was examined 5 minutes and 30 minutes after the chewing process is done. The independent t-test was performed to compare the plaque score recorded after chewing sugar canewith the control group plaque score.The results showed that for5 minutes after chewing the sugar cane the average examined plaque score is 15.83 and the control is 17.43. On the examination of 30 minutes after consuming sugar cane, the average plaque score is 19.37 and the control is 21.73. Independent t-test showed that significant differences were found at the pre-test, 5 minutes after chewing sugar cane, 30 minutes after chewing sugar cane, and the control group (p<5).At 5 minutes and 30 minutes after chewingsugar cane, the plaque scoreis lower but no significant differences control group were found (p>0,05). It could be concluded that chewing sugar cane could reduce the build-up of plaque but notstatistically significant.