Effect of Sialagogue on Bleeding on Probing in Sjogren's Syndrome

Methods: This prospective, observational study included 61 subjects (males=4 and females=57) with a mean age of 61 years. The subjects had a diagnosis of primary (n=44) or secondary (n=17) Sjögren's syndrome based on the criteria by American-European-Consensus-Group. All subjects received treatment for xerostomia in the Oral Medicine Clinic at Tufts Dental School and were examined every 3 months. The study population was divided into two groups: subjects on sialagogue (n=32) and subjects not on sialagogue due to their side effects (non-sialagogue, n=29). Of the 61 subjects 28 were on prescription strength remineralizing rinse for prevention of dental caries. The number of sites with BOP was recorded on all teeth. Stimulated whole salivary flow rate (SS) and un-stimulated whole salivary flow rate (US) were also recorded. The association between sialagogue and BOP was analyzed using an independent-samples t-test. After adjusting for the use of remineralizing rinse the association between sialagogue and BOP was analyzed using two-way ANOVA. The association between SS and BOP was analyzed using linear regression.

Results: The subjects on sialagogue had a significantly lower mean (SE) number of sites with BOP 22.97 (2.65) as compared to the non-sialagogue group 46.59 (6.20), p<0.001. After adjusting for the use of remineralizing rinse the subjects on sialagogue had a significantly lower number of sites with BOP (p<0.001). SS was negatively associated with the number of sites with BOP; this association was statistically significant when not adjusting for US (p=0.015) and when adjusting for US (p=0.036).

Conclusion: Treatment with sialagogue may prevent progression of gingival inflammation in patients with Sjögren's syndrome as seen by the significant decrease in the number of sites with BOP.