Prevalence of Xerostomia in Patients Referred to Shiraz Dental School, Shiraz, Iran during 2006–2013

Xerostomia (dry mouth) is dryness of the mouth that may be associated with a change in the composition of saliva or decreased salivary secretion. Saliva lubricates and protects the oral tissues against irritating agents and behaves as a buffer system to protect the mouth. It has a basic role in keeping the physical-chemical integrity of the enamel (1). Consequently, decrease in saliva results in dental caries, oral candidiasis, sialadenitis, dysgeusia, intraoral halitosis and dysphagia (2). Xerostomia is a very common symptom with conservative estimate of about 20% in the general population (3). It is more common in mouth breathing and often is a common adverse reaction of many kinds of medications (4). Dehydration , radiotherapy and several diseases can bring about hyposalivation or a change in the consistency of saliva. Sometimes, the cause cannot be identified and the complaint may have a psycho-genic reason. Diagnosis is based on history and clinical examination (1, 2). Since the prevalence of xerostomia is different among populations, we examined its prevalence in patients referred to Dental School of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. In this cross-sectional study, the files of all visited patients who referred to Shiraz Dentistry School during 2006-2007 were collected. Among them, those who complained of xerostomia were selected for more evaluation. Patients were divided into 4 subgroups: (A) the patients aged between 20-40; (B) between 40-49; (C) between 50-59; and (D) more than 60. Any systemic findings, drug consumption and habits such as drinking alcohol, smoking and using narcotics were recorded. Ethical approval was obtained from Medical Ethics Committee of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The Persian version of Fox (5) questionnaire was used to determine xerostomia severity. Inclusion criterion was tongue blade positive test. Data were collected and were analyzed using SPSS software ver. 17 Inc., Chicago, IL., USA. Chi-square and Student test α was less than 0.05. During 7 yr of evaluation, 860 patients aged between 2-87 yr were visited in Oral Medicine Department, Shiraz Dental School, Shiraz, Iran. Among those, 67 (7.8%) subjects complained of xerostomia. 24%, 43% and 33 % of the subjects had mild, moderate and sever xerostomia, respectively. As shown in Table 1, revealed that xeros-tomia was more prevalent in females than in males (P=0.001). According to age distribution, the oldest group (D) suffered from xerostomia more than others did (P=0.001). A high correlation was noticed between psychological disorders and xerostomi. Patients with a …