Oral and systemic factors in xerostomia

ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship among the following features: hyposalivation, systemic diseases and drug use, oral symptoms, dental condition, salivary flow and salivary pH, as well. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed with 50 participants diagnosed with xerostomia, randomly selected and distributed in two groups: 25 with hyposalivation and 25 without hyposalivation, paired in age and sex. Unstimulated Salivary Flow Rate (USFR), Decayed, Missing, Filled, Teeth (DMFT) index and salivary pH were determined. The Mann-Whitney test and chi-square test were applied, considering significant for p-values <0.05. Results: Among the participants with hyposalivation, 88% used drugs and 96% presented systemic disease. And among those without hyposalivation, 48% used drugs and 64% presented systemic disease. The ones with hyposalivation showed the highest levels of dysgeusia (60%) and burn mouth (36%). There were statistically significant differences for the medians of USFR (0.08ml/minute / 0.2ml/minute) (p = 0.000), pH (6/7) (p = 0.000) and DMFT (22/17) (p = 0.004) obtained from participants with hyposalivation and without hyposalivation, respectively. Only in the group with hyposalivation there was a statistically significant association of unstimulated salivary flow rate with age (p = 0.035), type of systemic disease (p = 0.049) and pH (p=0.032) and DMFT demonstrated an association with systemic diseases (p = 0.015). Conclusion: The research results have suggested that hyposalivation worsens dental status triggering oral symptoms, and that salivary flow is influenced by the type of systemic disease and age group.