The application of a night guard for sleep-related xerostomia.
OBJECTIVE
The usefulness of a night guard for nocturnal xerostomia was investigated.


METHODS
A controlled clinical trial was conducted, and the primary outcome measure was the satisfaction with the night guard in subjective improvement of the sensation of nocturnal dryness. The night guard device was fabricated with a 1.5-mm-thick ethylene vinyl acetate sheet, which covered the dental arch and the hard palate, and did not possess a reservoir for retaining a saliva substitute.


RESULTS
Following completion of 2-week treatment, substantial improvement was reported by the treatment group compared with the control group (P = .025). The posttreatment VAS value was significantly decreased compare with that of pretreatment period in sensation of oral dryness (P = .0295), thirstiness (P = .0012), and burning sensation of the tongue (P = .0371) in the treatment group


CONCLUSIONS
The application of a night guard is suggested to be a useful and simple method for the management of nocturnal xerostomia.
Yamamoto
Ken
K
Department of Geriatric Dentistry, Tsurumi University School of Dental Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
Nagashima
Hiroyuki
H
Yamachika
Shigeo
S
Hoshiba
Daigo
D
Yamaguchi
Kenichi
K
Yamada
Hiroyuki
H
Saito
Ichiro
I
Nakagawa
Yoichi
Y
D000328:Adult; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009064:Mouth Protectors; D017090:Occlusal Splints; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011145:Polyvinyls; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000517:prevention & control*
D011145:Polyvinyls; C016438:ethylenevinylacetate copolymer