Methods: Forty one individuals (mean age: 78.7 years) with xerostomia were randomly assigned to two groups. The first group (“intervention group”) consisted of 21 subjects that used a topical sialogogue spray (1% malic acid, Xeros Dentaid® spray). The second group (“control group”) was comprised by 20 subjects that used a placebo spray of similar characteristics as the experimental product but without the active ingredient. In both groups the sprays were applied on demand for two weeks. Xerostomia Inventory (XI) was used to evaluate xerostomia levels before and after the test/placebo application. Unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow rates, before and after spray application, were measured.
Results: XI scores decreased significantly (clinically meaningful) from 36.45 ± 7.35 points to 29.16 ± 7.18 (p < 0.01) with XI mean difference of 7.29 ± 6.13 after 1% malic acid spray application. In the test group, unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow rates increased significantly (p< 0.05).
Conclusions: A topical sialogogue spray containing 1% malic acid improved xerostomia in an elderly population and increased unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow rates.
This study was funded by the national project FIS-PI10/00932 (Spanish Government, Instituto de Salud Carlos III) and OTRI Project CNT-2856 University of Granada-Dentaid S.L. (Barcelona, Spain), within the framework of the research group “CTS-654, Pharmacological Research in Dentistry”, sponsored by the Regional Government of Andalucía (Spain)