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ABSTRACT

Many people who want to improve the arrangement of teeth to increase self-
confidence by using fixed orthodontic appliances. Fixed orthodontic appliances
have a complicated shape, so that the patients is difficult to clean leftover food
stuck to the area of tooth that is attached to a fixed orthodontic appliance. The
difficulty of cleaning this causes plaque buildup which results in various kinds of
diseases in the oral cavity. Plaque buildup can also result in a decrease in the pH
of saliva in the oral cavity. Oral hygiene maintenance measures are a way to
prevent these risks from occurring. Orthodontic Plaque Index (OPI) is a way to
assess oral hygiene in users of fixed orthodontic appliances. The use of litmus
paper with a salivary pH indicator is also one way to assess salivary pH in users
of fixed orthodontic appliances. The purpose of this study was to determine
whether there was an effect of prolonged use of fixed orthodontic appliances on
plaque accumulation and salivary pH in students of Dentistry Faculty,
Baiturrahmah University. This research method was an analytic observational
study with a cross sectional design. The research was conducted at the RSGM
Baiturrahmah in November 2022 with a total sample of 56 taken by purposive
sampling. Data from the OPI examination showed that out of 56 respondents, 21
people (37.5%) had good OPI criteria, 28 people (50.0%) had moderate, and 7
people (12.5%) had bad. Data from salivary pH examination showed that out of
56 respondents, 23 people (41.1%) had neutral salivary pH, 23 people had acid
(41.1%), and 10 people had alkaline (17.9%). The conclusion in this study was
that there is an effect of prolonged use of fixed orthodontic appliances on plaque
accumulation and salivary pH in undergraduate students of Dentistry Faculty,
Baiturrahmah University.

Keyword: Fixed orthodontic appliances, Orthodontic Plaque Index (OPI),
Salivary pH

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