Correlating Perceived Dry Mouth And A Technical Moisture Measurement

Objective: The objective of this study is to correlate the visual analog score (VAS) and the moisture of the oral cavity at different surfaces using a technical measure of moisture (Schirmer's strip), among individuals with medication induced hyposalivation taking anti-hypersensitive medication Method: New York University Blue Stone Research Center's VAS was administered to (N=49) medicated subjects currently using anti-hypersensitive medication. A vertical line drawn on the horizontal line of the scale indicated a range of “very dry and not dry at all”. Technical moisture levels were recorded using Schirmer's test strips applied for 30 seconds on the following surfaces of the oral cavity: tip of the tongue, posterior lateral border of the tongue, floor of the mouth, palate and posterior buccal mucosa. Saliva was collected in the morning after subjects had refrained from brushing and eating for 1.5 hrs prior to the visit. Both whole unstimulated salivary flow using the drooling method (Dawes, 1987) and whole stimulated salivary flow rate with paraffin wax were measured. Results: Whole unstimulated salivary flow was 0.22 ±.14 ml/min while whole stimulated flow was 2.04±1.33ml/min. The VAS score ranged from 0 to 87 mm with the mean of 42.3 ± 27.04 mm. The mean Schirmer's strip moisture readings were 1.12±1.8 mm on the anterior tongue, 2.18±2.56 mm on posterior lateral tongue, 0.38 ± 1.00mm on the palate, 7.08 ± 4.2mm on the posterior lateral tongue and 13.66 ±5.46mm on the floor of the mouth. Pearson's correlation showed that the score on the VAS correlated with the moisture on the posterior lateral tongue (p=.013), palate (p=.011) and the floor of the mouth (p=.021). Conclusion: The measurement of the moisture from different surfaces of the oral cavity with Schirmer's may be helpful in determining the subjective perception of dryness along with salivary measurement and VAS scores.