Therapies for xerostomia in Sjögren's disease are age- and gender-dependent

Objectives: Patients with Sjögren's disease use a variety of therapies to reduce their feeling of dry mouth. The applied strategies may depend on age or gender. Methods: An oral health questionnaire was sent to 1500 patients, randomly selected from the members of the Dutch Sjögren's Patients Federation. Patient responses were stratified according to gender, age (< 50, 51-60, 61-70 >70 yr) and the presence of a full denture. Results: A total of 879 subjects returned the questionnaire: 807 women and 72 men. One percent of all Sjögren's patients refrained from any therapy. Most frequent used therapies were the use of dry mouth gel/artificial saliva (74%), chewing gum (44%), sucking on candies (55%), drinking water (86%), tea (55%), coffee (30%) or soft drinks (13%). Women used significantly more frequent chewing gum (45% vs 32%), water (87% vs 75%), tea (56% vs 38) and less frequent soft drinks than male patients (12% vs 28%). The use of candies and dry mouth gel/artificial saliva increased with age, while the use of chewing gum and soft drinks decreased with age. Forty-four percent of the Sjögren's patients had a full dental prosthesis. Patients with a full denture used more frequent candies (62% vs 53%) and less frequent chewing gum (31% vs 54%) to relieve their xerostomia than patients with natural dentition. Conclusions: The therapies patients with Sjögren's disease use to reduce xerostomia depend on age, gender and the presence of a dental prosthesis. This information may aid dentists to give Sjögren's patients an individual advice.