Evaluation of Dental Status and Tooth-Surface-Loss in Patients With Hyposalivation

Objectives: Salivary hypofunction may lead to increased risk of dental caries and non-carious tooth surface loss (erosion). The aim of this study is to compare the prevalence of dental caries and tooth surface loss in patients with confirmed hyposalivation based on their Sjogren syndrome (SS) status.
Methods: This study comprised of 17 patients diagnosed with SS (+ve SSA and/or SSB) and 10 non-SS (-ve SSA and/or SSB). Unstimulated salivary flow rate was confirmed to be ≤ 0.1 ml/min in all patients. Decayed-Missing-Filled surface (DMFS) index was used for both coronal and root caries measurement and dental status. Both DMFS index and tooth wear index (Smith and Knight tooth wear index) data were documented. The results were analyzed descriptively and with Man-Whitney and independent samples tests, considering p<0.05 as statistically significant.
Results: On average, the non-SS patients had 25.4 teeth surfaces missing, whereas 9 missing surfaces were found among SS patients (P=0.032). In addition, SS patients showed statistically significant higher number of teeth with an established decay compared to non-SS patients (p=0.06). The mean for non-caries tooth surface loss was 17.1 and 17.5 for SS and non-SS patients, respectively (p= 0.919). No statistically significant difference between two groups with respect to other variables including tooth fillings and prosthetic dental crowns.
Conclusions: Even though the diagnosis with SS may alter the patients’ personal oral hygiene behavior by increasing their motivation for having better oral hygiene and access to dental care, salivary hypofunction remains a critical risk factor for development of dental caries and tooth surface loss in patients with dry mouth. Also, serologically negative SSA and SSB may not indicate absence of other underlying medical conditions. This ongoing study will have a larger sample size and more accurate representative data.