title: Utility of two methodologies in the clinical assessment of oral dryness in postmenopausal women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess the oral dryness in postmenopausal women and to correlate the salivary flow rate determined by sialometry with the clinical oral dryness score (CODS) obtained from Challacombe Scale. To correlate between subjective and objective oral dryness and relationship of salivary flow rate with that of the duration of menopause.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty postmenopausal women were questioned regarding their oral dryness status and the duration of menopause. Patients complaining of xerostomia formed the case group and rest formed the control group. CODS was assessed based on the 10 features of oral dryness. Unstimulated whole salivary (UWS) flow rate was assessed by sialometry for 5 min.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Highly significant negative correlation was observed between UWS and CODS (r= -0.651), low negative correlation was noted between the duration of menopause and UWS flow rates (r= -0.159), and no significant correlation was found between subjective oral dryness with that of UWS flow rates (P= 0.0964). There was no statistically significant difference between case and control group with regard to CODS (P= 0.525).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A good correlation of CODS with sialometry scores indicates that CODS can be utilized for semiquantitative assessment of oral dryness. It appears that UWS has poor correlation with duration of menopause. Xerostomia and UWS were not significantly related.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences, Coorg, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Rachita Kodandera
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Chengappa
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences, Coorg, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Veena S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Narayanan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Asim M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Daswani Dental College, Kota, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Mangala P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Rakaraddi
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences, Coorg, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Kavitha A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Puttaswamy
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, JSS Dental College and Hospital, Mysore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Jaishankar H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Puttabuddi
keywords: Clinical oral dryness score; postmenopausal women; sialometry; xerostomia