Table 4.

Correlation between clinical indicators and oral bacteria of inner surface of the mask.

r	Aa Mask	Pi Mask	Pn Mask	Ec Mask	Cr Mask	Pg Mask	Td Mask	Tf Mask	Lc Mask	Fn Mask	Sm Mask	Ss Mask	Pm Mask	En Mask	TB Mask	Red complex	Shannon's diversity
Age		0.185	−0.017	0.206	0.204	0.021	0.081	−0.251	0.234	0.113	−0.072	0.105	−0.098	−0.164	0.162	−0.011	0.233
UFR		−0.144	−0.042	0.017	−0.011	−0.023	−0.130	0.019	−0.155	0.013	−0.268	−0.022	0.063	0.234	−0.162	−0.077	−0.055
SFR		−0.301	−0.081	−0.070	−0.265	−0.140	−0.034	−0.163	−0.270	−0.230	−0.070	−0.127	−0.270	−0.091	−0.217	−0.114	−0.028
Salivary pH		0.027	−0.012	−0.015	−0.042	−0.037	−0.039	−0.132	−0.055	0.018	0.060	−0.016	−0.128	−0.068	−0.088	−0.133	−0.032
Buffer capacity		−0.116	0.090	0.128	0.090	0.084	0.216	0.094	−0.019	−0.176	0.121	0.135	0.050	0.190	0.102	0.013	0.055
Mask wearing time		0.153	0.080	0.064	0.005	0.057	0.127	−0.093	0.194	0.064	0.012	−0.097	−0.041	0.028	0.087	0.013	0.035
Xerostomia		−0.185	−0.017	0.206	−0.204	−0.021	0.081	−0.251	0.234	−0.113	−0.072	0.105	−0.098	−0.164	−0.058	−0.011	0.098

Results were obtained via Spearman's correlation analysis. P-value was considered as significant when p-value < 0.05 (*p < 0.05). Significant results shown in bold text. r, correlation coefficient; Bacterium name Mask, bacterial abundance in mask samples; TB, DNA copy number of collected total bacteria; Red complex, DNA copy number of pathogenic consortium of periodontitis (Pg, Td, and Tf); Shannon's diversity, Shannon's diversity index of collected total bacteria; UFR, unstimulated whole saliva; SFR, stimulated whole saliva.

Aa, aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans; Pi, prevotella intermedia; Pn, prevotella nigrescens; Lc, lactobacillus casei; Fn, fusobacterium nucleatum; Sm, streptococcus mutans; Ss, streptococcus sobrinus; Td, treponema denticola; Pg, porphyromonas gingivalis; Tf, tannerella forsythia; Ec, eikenella corrodens; Pm, parvimonas micra; Cr, campylobacter rectus; En, eubacterium nodatum.