Are you looking to find out more about what’s inside your mouth?
Well, you clicked on the right forum! I work for UCSF Dental School, and we are conducting a research study about the saliva and the micro bacteria in your mouth. Our study is called BRUSH up! Basically what we are doing is asking people to come volunteer so we can take plaque and saliva samples from their mouths, and we will be analyze what bacteria are on certain teeth in the mouth so we can create a map of the mouth.This kind of research study has never been done before! We aren’t just looking at the overall bacteria in the mouth, but we are looking at where there is an abundance of a certain type of bacteria compared to other teeth in the mouth. Previous studies have only given a general overview, but we want to be able to say which bacteria are more abundant in which area od the mouth so we can be more precise with our diagnostics and therapies. With our data, we are hoping to help those who don’t have enough saliva (such as those with Sjogren’s Syndrome) by being able to hopefully identify which bacteria they are missing so we can create novel therapies and diagnostics to help those with low salivary flow.
We have three portions of our study:
- We have a group of people are asked to collect plaque/saliva samples for 5 weeks and we analyze those samples. They come into the clinic once a week (on the same time and day of the week), and they are also asked to collect samples from themselves.
- We have a group of people who we ask to collect plaque/saliva samples for 6 weeks, and we also analyze those samples. They come into the clinic once a week (on the same time and day of the week), and they are also asked to collect samples from themselves.
- We have a group of people with Sjogren’s Syndrome who participate for only 2 clinic visits, and we collect and analyze the plaque/saliva samples. This portion is only a 2 week commitment.
Each of these portions get the opportunity to learn about their own bacteria in the mouth, and each of these portions gets paid, with a free dental cleaning and a free dental exam.
If you are interested, our website is hyposalivation.org and our contact information is on that page as well. Please come and learn about your own mouth and help us help others!