Improvement of salivary flow and oral wetness by a lip trainer device and sonic toothbrush in older Japanese men and women with dry mouth

摘要

Dry mouth, caused by decreased salivarygland function and/or weak salivary stimulation,can severely affect oral health in older individuals.Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate whethera lip trainer device and sonic toothbrush can improvesalivary flow and oral wetness in older patientscomplaining of dry mouth. Overall, 39 subjects aged≥60 years who had at least 20 natural teeth wererandomly assigned to use a lip trainer device (groupP, n = 13) or a sonic toothbrush (group S, n = 13).The subjects who did not experience oral drynesswere included as controls (group C; n = 13). Theunstimulated and stimulated salivary flow rates andoral wetness were measured at baseline, 1 and 6months. The unstimulated salivary flow significantlyincreased in both groups at 1 and 6 months (P 0.05).