Understanding pH

Why Dentistry and RBTI See the Same Number Differently

THE BODY REMEMBERSHEALING FOUNDATIONS

Shannon Korczynski

7/18/20267 min read

What Does a Saliva pH Reading Really Tell Us?

One of the questions I hear most often is, “My dentist says my saliva is too acidic, but you say 6.4 is ideal. Which one of you is right?”

It’s a fair question. The short answer is that we’re often looking at the same number but asking two completely different questions.

As a dental hygienist, I understand why dentists are interested in saliva pH. I’ve used chairside pH testing because many offices include it as part of a caries risk assessment. At the same time, after studying Reams Biological Theory of Ionization, or RBTI, I’ve come to appreciate that pH can also be viewed through a much broader lens.

To me, these approaches do not compete with one another.

They simply tell different parts of the story.

Before we compare them, let’s start with the basics.

pH stands for potential of hydrogen. It measures the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution and tells us whether that solution is acidic, neutral, or alkaline. Most of us learned that acidic is bad, alkaline is good, and neutral must be best. But human physiology doesn’t really work that way.

Different tissues throughout the body naturally function at different pH levels, and those levels are constantly changing. Every meal, every cup of coffee, every stressful morning, every workout, every night’s sleep, every glass of water, every breath we take, and even the way we digest our food can influence the chemistry of our body.

The mouth is no exception. That means a saliva pH isn’t a permanent state. It’s a snapshot.

I often explain chairside saliva pH testing by comparing it to taking a selfie. Most of us don’t take one picture and decide that’s the perfect representation of ourselves. Lighting matters, timing matters, and, for some of us, the angle matters. We usually take several before deciding which one best represents us.

Saliva pH is much the same. If you rushed to your appointment, had coffee on the way, ate breakfast an hour earlier, exercised before coming in, are dehydrated, take medications that reduce saliva flow, or spent the night mouth breathing, every one of those factors can influence the number we see.

That doesn’t mean the measurement is bad.

It simply means we need to understand what that measurement represents.

Personally, I don’t like making sweeping conclusions from a single data point. I prefer looking for patterns over time and asking why that number may have shifted.

How Dentistry Looks at Saliva pH

Dentistry and RBTI begin to look at pH differently at this point.

From a dental perspective, saliva is one of the mouth’s greatest protective systems. It lubricates the tissues, begins digestion, buffers acids, supplies calcium and phosphate for remineralization, washes away food debris, and helps support a balanced oral microbiome.

Throughout the day, our mouths are constantly cycling between demineralization and remineralization. Every time we eat fermentable carbohydrates, bacteria within the plaque biofilm metabolize those sugars and produce acids. As the pH within the plaque biofilm drops, minerals begin leaving the enamel. Healthy saliva and microbes immediately begin working to buffer those acids and restore balance by supplying the minerals needed for repair.

That cycle happens over and over, every single day.

To me, that’s one of the most fascinating things about the mouth.

It’s never static. It’s always adapting.

Because of that, I don’t believe the goal is achieving one perfect saliva pH that never changes.

A healthy mouth should acidify after eating, recover, and regulate itself. That ability to rebound is every bit as important as the number itself.

This is also why I believe sleep, hydration, digestion, breathing, stress, and overall health belong in the conversation. Poor sleep changes physiology. Mouth breathing reduces saliva and its ability to protect the teeth. Dehydration changes saliva quantity and quality. Digestion influences the nutrients available to build and maintain healthy tissues. Movement temporarily changes body chemistry through normal metabolic processes.

None of these are isolated events. They’re all part of the same system.

One thing I’ve noticed throughout my career is that saliva doesn’t always tell the entire story.

A saliva pH strip measures the saliva bathing the mouth. It doesn’t measure the localized environment within every plaque biofilm attached to every tooth. Those are different environments.

Dentistry is ultimately concerned with what is happening at the tooth surface because that’s where demineralization occurs. Saliva is one piece of that picture, but it isn’t the entire picture.

The documented normal range in dentistry, for saliva pH, is approximately 6.2 to 7.6, with an average near 6.7. In other words, a saliva pH of 6.4 falls within the recognized physiological range, although many clinicians still view a value below 7.0, neutral, primarily through the lens of acid exposure and caries risk.

Most dental professionals don’t spend much time discussing chairside saliva pH beyond recognizing that lower values may increase cavity risk. While the dental literature recognizes that resting saliva naturally varies from person to person and throughout the day, many clinicians simply weren’t taught to interpret chairside pH beyond the general concept that neutral is preferable to acidic.

So when someone hears that Dr. Carey Reams highlighted a saliva pH around 6.4, the natural reaction is, “That sounds too acidic.”.

I understand that reaction. I had the same questions myself, initially....

Dr. Reams and the RBTI Perspective

Most people have never heard of Dr. Carey Reams, and I certainly hadn’t during my years in traditional dentistry.

Dr. Reams was an agricultural scientist who became fascinated by how living systems produce energy and utilize nutrients. His observations eventually led to what became known as the Reams Biological Theory of Ionization, or RBTI.

Unlike dentistry, which primarily evaluates conditions within the mouth, RBTI attempts to understand how efficiently the body is functioning as a whole.

According to Dr. Reams, pH wasn’t simply a measure of acidity or alkalinity. He believed it reflected biological efficiency, particularly the body’s ability to digest food, assimilate nutrients, and produce energy.

It’s important to understand that these ideas are based on Dr. Reams’ theories and the work of practitioners who have continued to study and apply them. They represent a different framework for interpreting pH than conventional dentistry.

This brings us back to the question everyone asks: Why 6.4?

According to Dr. Reams’ Mineral Acceptance Chart, the optimal functional range extends from approximately 6.3 to 6.7, with 6.4 highlighted as the point of greatest overall biological efficiency. He believed nutrient assimilation occurred throughout that range, but that 6.4 represented the point where the broadest spectrum of nutrients was being utilized most efficiently.

Whether someone agrees with his conclusions or not, it’s important to understand what he was actually proposing. He wasn’t suggesting that making the mouth more acidic prevents cavities.

He was asking a completely different question: Is the body efficiently digesting food, absorbing nutrients, and supplying the raw materials needed to continually build and maintain healthy tissues, including teeth?

Looking at the Same Number Through a Wider Lens

The more I learned about RBTI, the more I realized that dentistry and RBTI weren’t really arguing with one another. They were simply asking different questions.

Dentistry is primarily interested in protecting the tooth from an environment that encourages demineralization. RBTI asks whether the body is creating an environment that supports healthy teeth in the first place.

I sometimes think about it like walking into a nightclub. When the lights are low and the music is playing, everything looks exactly as it’s supposed to. You can enjoy the evening without noticing every detail in the room.

Then closing time comes and the lights come on. Suddenly, you notice the scuffed walls, the sticky floor, the empty glasses tucked into corners, and the places that needed attention all along.

The room didn’t change. Your perspective did.

That’s how I think about pH. A chairside saliva pH reading gives us useful information about one part of the story. RBTI simply turns on a few more lights.

Instead of asking only what the saliva is doing today, it encourages us to consider digestion, mineral assimilation, hydration, breathing, sleep quality, stress, movement, and the body’s remarkable ability to regulate itself.

To me, that doesn’t replace dentistry. It expands the conversation.

Building Resilient Teeth

One of the ideas I appreciate most from Dr. Reams’ work is that nutrient availability matters. If the body is efficiently digesting food, absorbing nutrients, staying hydrated, breathing well, sleeping deeply, and regulating itself effectively, every tissue it builds has the potential to become healthier and more resilient.

I believe a well-nourished tooth is better equipped to tolerate the normal fluctuations in oral pH that happen throughout the day. Teeth are living structures supported by saliva, minerals, circulation, nutrition, the microbiome, and the physiology of the person who created them. When we improve the terrain surrounding and supporting the tooth, we strengthen its ability to withstand ordinary acid challenges and participate in the ongoing cycle of remineralization and repair.

If we focus only on saliva pH as a marker for cavities, we can end up chasing one small piece of a much larger system. But if we also support digestion, mineral assimilation, hydration, sleep, nasal breathing, healthy saliva production, and the body’s natural ability to regulate itself, we’re supporting the environment that helps every tissue thrive, including the teeth.

To me, that’s what healing naturally has always been about. Not creating perfection, but creating resilience.

A healthy tooth isn’t simply one that encounters the least acid. It’s one that’s continually supplied with the nutrients it needs to repair and maintain itself.

Looking Beyond a Single Number

This article only scratches the surface.

If you're interested in learning more, I've created an evolving library of books that have shaped my understanding of oral health, nutrition, biological dentistry, airway, and whole-body wellness. You can browse my recommended reading through my Evoke Healing Bookshop, where every purchase supports both my work and independent bookstores.

Several of the original RBTI references that influenced my thinking are unfortunately not currently available through Bookshop.org. If you're interested in studying the source material, I recommend looking for:

Choose Life or Death by Dr. Carey A. Reams
The Ultimate Answer to Health and Vitality by Jim & Elisa Sharps, Betty Reams Hernandez, and Phillip Rankin
RBTIOM Concepts and Principles by Jim Sharps

These books provide the foundation of Reams Biological Theory of Ionization and are worth reading for anyone who wants to understand the original philosophy.

If you'd like to understand how I interpret saliva and urine pH through the lens of RBTI, including Dr. Reams' Mineral Acceptance Chart, proper testing methods, timing considerations, common misconceptions, and practical ways to recognize patterns rather than isolated readings, I've put everything together in The Ultimate pH Guide.

My goal isn't to convince you that one philosophy is right and another is wrong. It's to encourage you to stay curious, continue learning, and ask better questions.

Because sometimes the most valuable insight isn't found in the number itself. It's found in understanding what that number may be trying to tell us.