Associations between Zinc Deficiency, Taste Changes, and Salivary Flow Rates following Gastric Bypass and Sleeve Gastrectomy Surgeries

Figure 3

Incidence of low salivary flow rate among SG and GB patients. The salivary flow rate following both types of operations is seen to be lower than the standard range. However, there is a little rise in salivary flow rates at 6 months, with values of 4.79 ± 3.52 for SG and 4.91 ± 2.67 for GB, compared to the values reported at 3 months, which were 4.44 ± 2.84 for SG and 4.63 ± 3.03 for GB. Despite this increase, the salivary flow rates at both time points remained below the normal range.