The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of subjective perception of dry mouth in an adult population and to determine the prevalence of pharmacotherapy in this population. An additional aim was to assess a possible co-morbidity between symptoms of dry mouth and continuing pharmacotherapy. Four-thousand-two-hundred persons were selected at random from the national census register of the adult population of the southern part of the province of Halland, Sweden. The sample was stratified according to age and sex, and 300 men and an equal number of women aged 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80, were included. A newly developed questionnaire was mailed to each individual. In addition to questions about subjective perception of dry mouth, the subjects were asked to report on present diseases and continuing pharmacotherapy. Three-thousand-three-hundred and thirteen (80.5%) evaluable questionnaires were returned. The estimated prevalence of xerostomia in the population was 21.3% and 27.3% for men and women, respectively. This difference between the sexes was statistically significant. In non-medicated subjects, women tended to report a higher prevalence of xerostomia compared with men, 18.8% vs. 14.6%, and also among medicated subjects the estimated prevalence of dry mouth was higher for women than for men, 32.5% vs. 28.4%. There was a strong association between xerostomia and increasing age and also between xerostomia and continuing pharmacotherapy. The average prevalence of dry mouth among medicated and non-medicated subjects was 32.1% and 16.9%, respectively, the difference being statistically significant. There was also a strong association between xerostomia and the number of medications. In a logistic regression, the probability of reporting mouth dryness was significantly greater in older subjects and in women, and the probability increased with the number of medications taken. In conclusion, this epidemiological survey of an adult population has demonstrated that women, independent of age, do report a higher prevalence of xerostomia than men and that the symptom of dry mouth is strongly associated with age and pharmacotherapy. It is, however, not possible to discriminate between disease and pharmacotherapy as causal factors.

The r-elation of the elinieal picture of snuff dipper's lesions to the histopathologieal appear-ance was studied in 114 male dipper-s aged 20-88 years.Histologieal study r-evealed iner-eased epithelial thickness, a vacuolated surface layer -with wavelike, eosinophilic spikes direeted toward the sur-faee having a nari-ow, eosinophilie band as a demar-cation towar-d the pr-ickle eell layer-, aeanthosis, and a slight inflammatory reaction. Thir-teen cases showed an iner-eased number of eosinophilic granulocytes, and nine eases contained amorphous, weakly eosinophilie areas in the conneetive tissue papillae. No epithelial dysplasia was observed.Increased epithelial thickness, especially the presence of a vaeuolated sur-face layer, was the only histologie feature that eould be correlated with the severity of elinieal appearance of the lesions. Deeply located changes, like inflammation and amorphous areas, however-, were not reflected in the elinieal gr-ading of the lesions.

These results suggest no major differences in the timing of tooth formation stages between these children. This fails to explain previous findings of differences using Demirjian's dental maturity method.

Staaf V, Mornstad H, Welander U; Age estimation based on tooth development; a test of reliability and vahdity. ScandJ Dent Res 1991; 99; 281-6.Abstract -The precision and accuracy of three commonly used methods for age determination by teeth were studied in 541 children aged 5.5-14.5 yr. These methods rely on estimation of tooth development as seen in radiographs compared with compiled dental charts. It was found that charts made from Scandinavian populations gave a rather good precision, while one from a Canadian population gave a consistent overestimate. Dependent on the method used, sex, and age, the 95% confidence interval for an individual prediction could be more than + 2 yr.

The common methods of age determination with the aid of teeth have been criticized because they rely on subjective estimations of tooth development, as seen in radiographs, and subsequent comparisons with pictures and descriptions in compiled dental charts. The distribution around an estimated age with these methods is usually more than ±2 yr between the 10th and 90th percentiles. In an attempt to avoid subjective estimations, objective measurements of developing teeth were correlated with subjects' chronologic ages. The structures measured were crown height, apex width, and root length. With the aid of a multiple regression model, a linear relationship between some of these distances and age was shown. The distances which were best correlated with age differed according to sex and age. This method has a 95% C.I. of about ±2 yr around an estimated age. It therefore seems to be more accurate than the earlier methods. Thus, the individual variation in tooth development is of the same order of magnitude, and a better estimation can therefore not be done in children 6–14 yr of age.