Regular dental visits are especially important for seniors, since many suffer from dry mouth, which slows down the fl ow of saliva. Saliva plays a major role in preventing tooth decay by rinsing away food particles and neutralizing harmful acids. Dry mouth often comes with old age, but can also be caused by medications such as antihistamines, decongestants, antidepressants and diuretics. If you...

OBJECTIVE To identify drugs associated with the complaint of dry mouth. MATERIALS AND METHODS MEDLINE was searched for papers 1980-2002 using keywords, oral, mouth, salivary, drugs, dry mouth and xerostomia, and relevant secondary references were hand-searched. RESULTS Evidence was forthcoming for a number of xerogenic drugs, especially antimuscarinic agents, some sympathomimetic agents, an...

Surface sediment samples were collected from the Canon River mouth, Taiwan and analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Total PAHs concentrations varied from 337 to 1,252 ng/g dry weight, with a mean concentration of 827 ng/g dry weight. The spatial distribution of PAHs reveals that the PAHs concentration is relatively high in the river mouth region, and gradually diminishes toward...

Existing accounts of dry mouth concentrate on the medical dimensions and almost completely neglect to consider its social dimensions. Simultaneously, debates on disability have highlighted an apparent split between the individual (medical) and social models of disability. The concept of 'impairment effects' aims to address this dichotomised approach. Impairment effects consider the everyday imp...

Sjögren syndrome is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by dry eyes and dry mouth. Other organ systems are affected in many patients. Sjogren syndrome is classified as primary or secondary. In primary disease, Sjogren syndrome is a solitary process, whereas secondary disease accompanies another autoimmune disease--often rheumatoid arthritis. Sjögren syndrome is a challenging diagnosis, ...

The objective of this study was to compare unstimulated salivary flow rate and residual salivary volume (the volume of saliva retained in the mouth after swallowing) in a group of 23 control subjects and a group of 25 patients who had received radiation treatment or had undergone removal of the salivary glands (or both) for head and neck cancer. As expected, the mean flow rate (+/- 0 standard d...