A RELATIONSHIP between the speed with which salivary amylase breaks corn starch to a product not giving blue or purple color with iodine and dental decay experience has been pointed out by several investigators.1-4 Wohlgemuth 's5 experiments indicated that both fluoride and certain amino acids change the speed with which pancreatic amylase breaks starch to a form failing to give blue or purple color with iodine. Sherman and his colleagues' demonstrated clearly that certain amino acids, upon being added to amylase, speeded its action on starch, while other amino acids failed to speed the amyloelastic phase of starch breakdown.Enzymes, in addition to their amino acid chain, frequently utilize a vitamin as their prosthetic group. It seemed worth-while, therefore, to determine whether, using corn starch as the substrate, some vitamin would alter the speed of salivary amylase activity.In the study being reported here, we have further confirmed the faster dextrinization of corn starch by saliva from individuals with high proneness to dental decay. In addition, the results of this investigation indicate that the addition of vitamin B1 (thiamine Cl-HCl) to saliva fairly consistently speeds the dextrinization of corn starch by salivary amylase. The degree to which this time was speeded differed for the various groups, classified according to their dental decay activity.The method of estimating caries extent and activity7 in these subjects was by a per cent activity classification based on the previous 6-month period, that is, the number of surfaces with newly formed lesions was used as the numerator, and the number of surfaces that were available for decay was used as the denominator. The result, expressed as a per cent, was used as the current activity index.The subjects for this study were children whose chronological ages were primarily 4 to 12 years (extreme range in age was 3 yrs. 7 mos. to 15 yrs. 3 mos.). The children were from Boston and its suburbs and were brought to the Forsyth Dental Infirmary for treatment. The group included children with extensive dental decay and children free from dental decay.
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