Usefulness of new wetness tester for diagnosis of dry mouth in disabled patients.
OBJECTIVE
The condition of dry mouth is an influential factor in the incidence of caries, periodontal disease, fungal infections, masticatory dysfunctions and denture function. Bedridden elderly and disabled persons often suffer from oral dryness and the aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of measuring the amount of moisture in the oral mucosa for clinical diagnosis of dry mouth in this group.


METHODS
The subjects were 20 elderly bedridden individuals, age range 65-89 years old, living in a nursing home and six healthy laboratory researchers, aged 20-46 years old, used as controls. Tongue dorsum moisture measurements were performed using a newly developed wetness tester (L-SALIVO), in which the wet portion was measured after 10 s. Further, clinical diagnosis of dry mouth was carried out using a clinical classification scale of the tongue mucosa (grade range, 0-3).


RESULTS
It was possible to measure tongue dorsum moisture in all subjects with the wetness tester. The average moisture value was 0.1+/-0.2 mm in elderly subjects with a dry mouth grade of 2 (n = 8) or 3 (n = 12), while the average moisture value in the control subjects was 3.67+/-1.75 mm with a dry mouth grade of 0 (n = 4) or 1 (n = 2). Tester values and cliniical classification showed a positive co-relationship (r = 0.31, p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that this new tester could be useful for evaluating oral dryness and diagnosing dry mouth.
Kakinoki
Yasuaki
Y
National Hospital Organization Fukuoka National Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan. yasu.kakinoki@nifty.com
Nishihara
Tatsuji
T
Arita
Masahiro
M
Shibuya
Koji
K
Ishikawa
Masao
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003762:Dental Instruments; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000175:diagnosis*