Xerostomia Diagnosis – A Narrative Review

Abstract

Xerostomia can be defined as a feeling of dryness of mouth, which may or may not be accompanied with reduced salivary secretions. Xerostomia may result in localized and systemic disturbances within the body. The overall global prevalence of xerostomia is 22% with wide variation among different countries due to difference in target population. This review presents the recent literature on the diagnostic methodologies that are present in recent times through subjective and objective corridors. The most commonly used subjective methods for the xerostomia diagnosis include: Fox questionnaire, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Xerostomia Inventory (XI), and Shortened Xerostomia Inventory (SXI). Objective xerostomia diagnostic tools include salivary flow rate assessment. Aside from this, there are numerous radiographical modalities that can be used especially in diagnosing salivary gland disorders or radiation exposure due to oncological treatments which can also provide the added information to diagnose or monitor xerostomia. These radiographic tools include computer tomography (CT), scintigraphy, sialography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasonography. Different combination of tools gives a better xerostomia assessment, selection of which also depends on the age and health condition of the patient. KEYWORDS: flow rate; hyposalivation; diagnosis; oral dryness; salivary gland dysfunction

Assessment of Oral Health in Long-Term Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition Patients: Significant Aspects of Nursing Care

“…More than 100 questionnaires, available in the literature, have been developed for assessing the severity of dry mouth and salivary gland functioning. The most common questionnaires used for the subjective diagnosis of xerostomia are: Xerostomia Inventory (XI), Fox’s Questionnaire, Shortened Xerostomia Inventory (SXI), and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) [ 32 ]. Another test that can be used to visually assess dry mouth is the Challacombe Scale, which describes the 10 characteristic symptoms of the lack of saliva in the mouth.…”