Objective Xerostomia may result in several oral conditions, which ultimately affect oral health-related quality of life (OHRQOL). This study aims to evaluate the relationship of stress, xerostomia, salivary flow rate, and OHRQOL among young adults. Method We invited 72 participants to complete three validated questionnaires including the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10), a shortened version of the Xerostomia Inventory (SXI), and the shortened Oral Health Impact Profile (S–OHIP). Unstimulated saliva was collected, and flow rate was determined. Based on the SXI scores and hyposalivation, the participants were categorised into four groups: subjective xerostomia, subjective and objective xerostomia, objective xerostomia, and true non-xerostomia. Based on the median PSS score, participants were categorised into high stress and low stress groups. Data were analysed using the Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal–Wallis H test, and Spearman's correlation coefficient. A p value of 0.05 was set for all tests. Results A significant difference was observed in the unstimulated salivary flow rate (χ 2 (3) = 26.677, p < 0.001) and PSS scores (X 2 (3) = 8.552, p = 0.036) between xerostomia groups, while OHIP scores were not statistically different (X 2 (3) = 5.488, p = 0.139). A significant correlation was observed between SXI and S–OHIP scores ( r = 0.348, p = 0.003) and unstimulated salivary flow rate and PSS ( r = −0.259, p = 0.028). Conclusion This study shows that perceived stress can influence salivary flow rate. Among the xerostomia groups, stress scores and salivary flow rates varied significantly. Additionally, subjective xerostomia has an impact on OHRQOL.

OBJECTIVES: Chronic periodontitis (CP) is an inflammatory disease of microbial origin that harms the health of the oral tissues. The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of Nigella sativa oil mouthwash given for two weeks after non-surgical therapy in patients with CP. METHODOLOGY: This study was a parallel-arm randomized controlled trial that was conducted after ethical approval and registered with clinicaltrials.gov. The trial followed the guidelines of CONSORT and triple blinding was ensured. A total of fifty voluntary participants, after giving consent and being evaluated for clinical parameters of CP that included Periodontal Pocket Depth (PPD), CAL (Clinical Attachment Loss), PI (Plaque Index) and BoP (Bleeding on Probing) were divided into a control group and a treatment group. Both groups underwent scaling and root planning and were given normal saline solution or Nigella sativa oil respectively to be used as mouthwash daily for two weeks. The clinical parameters were recorded after two weeks and data was analyzed using SPSS (version 25.0). RESULTS: It was noted that a statistically significant change was found in the pre-treatment and post-treatment values of all CP parameters in both the groups after the use of normal saline and Nigella sativa oil mouthwash. No statistically significant results were obtained when clinical parameters were evaluated between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The clinical periodontal parameters of PI, CAL, PPD and BoP improved in both study groups two weeks following non-surgical periodontal therapy irrespective of the Nigella Sativa oil-based mouthwash or normal saline-based mouthwash used. It is suggested that either both types of mouthwashes had a beneficial effect or sub-gingival ultrasonic instrumentation itself was enough for improvement of periodontal health irrespective of the mouthwash used. KEYWORDS: Nigella sativa, Chronic periodontitis, Normal Saline, Oral Health, Dental, Non-surgical Periodontal Therapy