title: Effectiveness of malic acid 1% in patients with xerostomia induced by antihypertensive drugs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Assessing the clinical effectiveness of a topical sialogogue on spray (malic acid, 1%) in the treatment of xerostomia induced by antihypertensive drugs.
  
  
  METHODS
  This research has been carried out through a randomized double-blind clinical trial. 45 patients suffering from hypertensive drugs-induced xerostomia were divided into 2 groups: the first group (25 patients) received a topical sialogogue on spray (malic acid, 1%) whereas the second group (20 patients) received a placebo. Both of them were administered on demand for 2 weeks. Dry Mouth Questionnaire (DMQ) was used in order to evaluate xerostomia levels before and after product/placebo application. Unstimulated and stimulated salivary flows rates, before and after application, were measured. All the statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS software v17.0. Different DMQ scores at the earliest and final stage of the trial were analysed by using Mann-Whitney U test, whereas Student's T-test was used to analyse salivary flows. Critical p-value was established at p<0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  DMQ scores increased significantly (clinical recovery) from 1.21 to 3.36 points (p<0.05) after malic acid (1%) application whereas DMQ scores increased from 1.18 to 1.34 points (p>0.05) after placebo application. After two weeks of treatment with malic acid, unstimulated salivary flow increased from 0.17 to 0.242 mL/min whereas the stimulated one increased from 0.66 to 0.92 mL/min (p<0.05). After placebo application unstimulated flow ranged from 0.152 to 0.146 mL/min and stimulated flow increased from 0.67 to 0.70 mL/min (p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Malic acid 1% spray improved antihypertensive-induced xerostomia and stimulated the production of saliva.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, University of Granada, Granada, Spain. ggomez@ugr.es
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gómez-Moreno
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guardia
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aguilar-Salvatierra
authors.forename: Maribel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cabrera-Ayala
authors.forename: José-Eduardo
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Maté-Sánchez de-Val
authors.forename: José-Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Calvo-Guirado
mesh_terms: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008293:Malates / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D008293:Malates; C030298:malic acid