Table 1. Adjusted relationships between reduced glutathione, oxidized glutathione and TAC and salivary bacterial profiles and dental caries progression.

Variables		GSH (mmol/l)	P*	Post hoc **	GSSG (mmol/l)	P*	Post hoc **	GSH/GSSG	P*	Post hoc **	TAC (mmol/l)	P*	Post hoc **
Bacterial profile of saliva	S. mutans (n = 12)	0.289	< 0.001	a	0.197	< 0.001	a	1.43	< 0.001	ab	1.74	< 0.001	a
	L. rhamnosus (n = 25)	0.276		a	0.186		b	1.5		a	1.65		ab
	S. sanguinis (n = 23)	0.255		b	0.173		c	1.44		ab	1.58		b
	S. mitis (n = 12)	0.241		bc	0.168		cd	1.41		bc	1.57		bc
	Others (n = 8)	0.187		c	0.148		d	1.27		c	0.54		c
Disease vs. Control	Non-cavitated group (n = 26)	0.261	< 0.001	a	0.174	< 0.001	a	1.48	< 0.001	ab	1.60	< 0.001	a
	Cavitated group (n = 27)	0.287		b	0.191		b	1.49		a	1.73		b
	Control (n = 27)	0.190		c	0.150		c	1.28		b	0.56		c

Data represent medians. Superscripts a, b, c denote groups differing on Mann–Whitney tests with Bonferroni correction. Groups denoted with the same letter did not show statistically significant differences. GSH – reduced glutathione; GSSG – oxidized glutathione.

*P-value obtained by the Kruskal–Wallis test adjusted for age, gender, frequency of snack eating per week, frequency of soda drinking per week, frequency of sugar drinking per week, and frequency of natural/hybrid/artificial feeding.

**P < 0.05.