A simple test for salivary gland hypofunction using Oral Schirmer's test.
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.
López-Jornet
Pia
P
Department of Oral Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Murcia, Spain. majornet@um.es
Camacho-Alonso
Fabio
F
Bermejo-Fenoll
Ambrosio
A
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*