engleski

Quality of life in xerostomia patients using different saliva substitutes

Objectives: Xerostomia or dry mouth is a subjective sensation of oral dryness. Xerostomia may have many causes, including medications, Sjögren syndrome, head and neck radio- therapy, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, and psychologic factors, but drug-induced xerostomia is the most common. Dry-mouth treatment consists of salivary stimulation, salivary substitutes, or both. Many different arti fi cial salivas are available on the market. The aim of the present study was to compare the ef fi ciency of 3 different saliva substitutes on quality of life in patients with xerostomia. Methods: A total of 60 patients with xerostomia were divided into 3 groups. In the fi rst group, patients were using dental spray based on thermal spring water ; in the second group, mouthwash containing hydroxyethylcellulose ; and in the third group, marshmallow root. Therapy lasted for 2 weeks. Quality of life was measured by the Croatian version of the Oral Health Impact Pro fi le 14 questionnaire, and a visual analog scale was used to determine the intensity of dry mouth before and after therapy. Results: Dental spray based on thermal spring water has shown the highest effect on quality of life in patients with xero- stomia. Intensity of dry mouth was lower after the therapy, no matter which salivary substitute patients used. Conclusions: We can recommend using all 3 saliva sub- stitutes for decreasing the intensity of dry mouth. Dental spray based on thermal spring water has shown the best result for both decreasing the intensity of dry mouth symptoms as well as improvement in quality of life

xerostomia ; salivary substitutes

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