Xerostomia among elderly patients – systematic review

DrożakMartyna,DrożakPaulina,DziekońskaJustyna,NowińskaMartyna,GrabowyPaulina. Xerostomia among elderly patients – systematic review.Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2021;11(9):289-297. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2021.11.09.035 https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/JEHS.2021.11.09.035 https://zenodo.org/record/5515203 The journal has had 5 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. § 8. 2) and § 12. 1. 2) 22.02.2019. © The Authors 2021; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 05.09.2021. Revised: 18.09.2021. Accepted: 18.09.2021. Xerostomia among elderly patients – systematic review Martyna Drożak1, Paulina Drożak1, Justyna Dziekońska2, Martyna Nowińska2, PaulinaGrabowy2 Students’ Scientific Association of Chair and Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of Lublin Students’ Research Group of Applied Psychology, Medical University of Lublin Abstract Introduction and purpose:Xerostomia is a salivary secretion malfunction that affects from 1 to 29% of the population. It is a common problem among elderly patients, however undeniably it still remains an underdiagnosed issue. Searching among available literature in the PubMed database with the following phrases: xerostomia; elderly, the aim of this article was to provide a broad review on the underdiagnosed problem which is xerostomia among elderly patients. Description:A group at risk of developing xerostomia are people over 65 years old and women in the perimenopausal period. Although dry mouth varies in etiology, geriatric patients mostly develop xerostomia as a result of head and neck radiotherapy, Sjögren syndrome or medication treatment. Untreated symptoms can lead to severe issues which heavily impact not only oral health of the patient, but also their everyday life quality, since xerostomia may lead into difficulty of speaking, swallowing and tasting. The plan of treatment is influenced by the etiology of the case, however it is aimed to stimulate salivary flow and eradicate the use of unnecessary medication which may cause dry mouth. Prevention of dry mouth is based on maintenance of good oral hygiene. Conclusions:Diagnosing the problem early can prevent patients from suffering the consequences of chronic xerostomia, therefore awareness should be brought to this issue. Dentist could also highly improve the quality of xerostomic patient’s life, if the chosen treatment significantly improved patient’s symptoms. Key words:xerostomia; elderly