Table 4 Salivary flow and pH results over time in three study groups: baseline, 2-month, and 4-month follow-up.

Time	Control 1 (n = 21)	Control 2 (n = 20)	Test (n = 20)	Global p-value
Sialometry (ml./min.)
Between-group comparisons^a
T0 (baseline) (%), mean ± sd	0.57 ± 0.34	0.40 ± 0.23	0.46 ± 0.42	0.272
T2 (%), mean ± sd	0.63 ± 0.40	0.38 ± 0.28	0.59 ± 0.39
T4 (%), mean ± sd	0.57 ± 0.42	0.44 ± 0.33	0.49 ± 0.29
Within-group comparisons
Global comparison^b, p-value	0.273	0.988	0.026
Paired comparisons^c, p-value
T0 vs T2	0.315	0.612	0.017
T0 vs T4	0.924	0.433	0.602
T2 vs T4	0.392	0.284	0.078
Variable change^a
T2-T0 (%), mean ± sd	0.06 ± 0.29	− 0.02 ± 0.15	0.13 ± 0.22	0.132
T4-T0 (%), mean ± sd	0.00 ± 0.25	0.04 ± 0.21	0.03 ± 0.22	0.824
T4-T2 (%), mean ± sd	− 0.06 ± 0.36	0.06 ± 0.22	− 0.10 ± 0.25	0.196
pH
Between-group comparisons^a
T0 (baseline), mean ± sd	7.27 ± 0.46	7.20 ± 0.62	7.38 ± 0.57	0.584
T4, mean ± sd	7.06 ± 0.48	6.81 ± 0.49	7.43 ± 0.62
Within-group comparisons^c	0.016	0.003	0.690
Variable change^a
T4-T0 (%), mean ± sd	− 0.21 ± 0.38	− 0.39 ± 0.53	0.05 ± 0.50	0.016^d

^aANOVA was used for between-groups and variable change comparisons (three groups). If p-value < 0.05, post-hoc paired comparisons (with Bonferroni's method) were also performed (depicted in footnote d).
^bFor intra-group comparisons (three times), Friedman's test was used.
^cStudent's T-test for paired samples.
^dPost-hoc paired comparisons for independent groups: Significant difference between Test and Control 2 (0.44, p = 0.014; 95%-CI = 0.07, 0.81).

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