Clinical assessment of oral dryness: development of a scoring system related to salivary flow and mucosal wetness

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop a clinical oral dryness score (CODS) for routine use in assessment of xerostomia patients and determine its relationship with salivary flow rates and mucosal wetness. CODS was determined from 10 features of oral dryness, each scoring as 1 point for a total score of 0-10. CODS, salivary flow rates, and mucosal wetness were measured in 100 patients and 50 healthy control subjects. The reproducibility of CODS was 0.89-0.96 (intraclass correlation coefficient). The mean ± SD CODS in patients was 6.0 ± 1.6 compared with 1.0 ± 0.9 for control subjects (P < .001), and the highest mean value was in the primary Sjögren syndrome group. There was a general inverse relationship in patients between mean CODS and salivary flow rate (P < .01) and mean CODS and mucosal wetness (P < .01). The CODS was found to be useful, easy to use, and reliable for routine assessment of the severity of dry mouth.