Mouthdryness Among Patients in Longterm Hospitals

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the mean salivary flow rate and the prevalence of mouthdryness and its relation to some background variables, such as oral condition, state of health and drug intake, among patients in somatic longterm hospitals. From 154 randomly selected patients salivary samples were taken from both parotid glands with Lashley cannules and 5 min stimulation with citric acid 2%. The sampling was repeated 3 times at a few days interval. The mean parotid flow rate among women was 0.28 ml/min and among men 0.47 ml/min. Forty‐three% of the patients had a rate ≤ 0.2 ml/min and 44% of these reported an almost constant sensation of dryness of mouth. Background factors with a significant effect on salivary flow rate could be found only among men taking tricyclic antidepressents especially in combination with diuretics. The flow rates among these institutionalized, old patients as a group were found to be consistently lower than rates found in earlier investigations among healthy old people.

Xerostomia, Xerogenic Medications and Food Avoidances in Selected Geriatric Groups

“…The 72% prevalence of complaints of xerostomia at any time during the day reported by the participants in this investigation (Table 1) is higher than the prevalences of 10 to 55% found by other investigators 10–12,15–18 . This could reflect the fact that participants were asked multiple questions about the time of day in which they experienced mouth dryness, were queried about xerostomia on two separate occasions, and that the xerostomia questions were positioned after those questions related to thirst.…”

“…Triazolam, amitriptyline, and sucralfate, which could be significantly associated with both a complaint of xerostomia and with a reduction in stimulated salivary flow, were the most xerogenic of these medications. Of these, amitriptyline and triazolam, which have been grouped by several authors with antipsychotic, hypnotic, and psychotropic medications, have frequently been associated with xerostomia 15,17,18,21–23,32,33,35,36 . There is apparently little data that associates sucralfate with decreased salivary gland performance 21 …”

A systematic review of methods to diagnose oral dryness and salivary gland function

“…The basic causes of oral dryness are difficult to treat and many methods have been tested to stimulate saliva secretion and ease the patient’s discomfort, e.g., saliva-stimulating tablets and artificial saliva. Several studies have evaluated the efficacy of such preparations but there is no documented evidence of their effect on oral health [64-66]. …”

Objective and subjective efficacy of saliva substitutes containing mucin and carboxymethylcellulose

“…These methods of evaluation probably have limited validity (12,13) and/or reliabihty. It would therefore be desirable to measure the lubricating effect of saliva substitutes/stimulants with alternative, more valid, and reliable methods.…”