title: A simple test for salivary gland hypofunction using Oral Schirmer's test.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to develop a test for detecting salivary gland hypofunction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Oral Schirmer's test was performed by placing a strip of filter paper on the floor of the mouth and measuring the wetted length after 5 min. The control group consisted of 70 healthy patients, while another group consisted of 61 patients with Sjögren's Syndrome (SS) and a third group of 31 patients who suffered from xerostomia caused by other pathologies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean saliva flow was 40.92 +/- 22.28 mm/5 min in the control group, 27.25 +/- 24.11 mm/5 min in patients with SS and 36.847 +/- 23.4 mm/5 min in the third group. The differences between the control group and the other two groups were statistically different (P > 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The whole saliva test was used to distinguish between healthy adults and subjects with hyposalivation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Murcia, Spain. majornet@um.es
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: López-Jornet
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Camacho-Alonso
authors.forename: Ambrosio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bermejo-Fenoll
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism*; D012472:Salivation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000175:diagnosis*