Denture adhesive reduces the secretion of minor salivary glands

OBJECTIVE: was to determine the effect of a commercially distributed denture adhesive onto subjective orofacial sicca symptoms (OSS), unstimulated whole saliva (UWS), palatal (PS) and labial (LS) saliva flow rate. METHODS: 15 complete denture wearing patients (6 male, 9 female; average age: 72,27±11 years, took part in this follow-up study. Patients used a gel type denture adhesive (Blend-a-Dent Extra Stark Neutral, Procter&Gamble, Hungary) during the 3 weeks of the examination. The subjective orofacial sicca symptoms were evaluated using a questionnaire with 16 questions. UWS was determined using the spitting method. PS and LS flow rates were measured with the Periotron Method with filter paper discs using the Periotron®8000 (Oraflow Inc.Amityville,USA) device. Tests used for the statistic analysis were as follows: subjective values - χ2-test; flow rates - ANOVA, and unpaired Student's t-test. RESULTS: According to the answers of the questionnaire, a significant increase of a subjective symptom (saliva thickness) was registered after week 1 compared to the initial values. UWS flow rates showed a non-significant increase (initial value: 0,45 ± 0,42 ml/min; week 1: 0,48±0,45 ml/min; week 2: 0,45±0,46 ml/min; week 3: 0,50±0,43 ml/min). LS flow rates (intial: 5,96±4,04 µl/cm2/min; week 1: 6,80±5,74µl/cm2/min; week 2: 4,74±3,54 µl/cm2/min; week 3: 3,25±4,22 µl/cm2/min) decreased at all compared to the initial values. PS flow rates decreased from week to week (initial: 5,76±4,31 µl/cm2/min; week 1: 4,42±4,57 µl/cm2/min; week 2: 3,71±3,04 µl/cm2/min; week 3: 2,77±3,31 µl/cm2/min). The decline of both PS and LS flow rates became significant after the 3-week adhesive usage, compared to the initial values. CONCLUSION: Results suggest, that a 3-week use of the denture adhesive led to a significant decrease of PS and LS flow rates. One subjective symptom (saliva thickness) increased significantly. The continuous increase of the UWS flow rates could be detected as well, but this was not significant.