Abstract
BackgroundPrimary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is associated with dental caries. Pilocarpine, a salivary stimulant, can improve the amount and flow rate of saliva in patients with pSS. This study aimed to assess whether the risk of dental caries decreases with the use of pilocarpine in patients with pSS.MethodsFor this prospective cohort study, we identified pSS patients from the catastrophic illnesses registry of the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan between 2009 and 2013. We divided participants into pilocarpine and non-user groups based on the pilocarpine prescriptions available during the first 3-month follow-up. The primary endpoint was dental caries. The secondary endpoints were periodontitis and oral candidiasis. We compared the risk of these oral manifestations using the Cox proportional hazard model.ResultsA total of 4973 patients with new-onset pSS were eligible for analysis. After propensity score matching, we included 1014 patients in the pilocarpine group and 2028 patients in the non-user group. During the mean follow-up of 2.6 years, the number of events was 487 in the pilocarpine group (48.0%) and 1047 in the non-user group (51.6%); however, the difference was not significant (hazard ratio [HR] 0.93, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.82 to 1.06). Furthermore, there was no significant difference between groups regarding risk of periodontitis (HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.81 to 1.03) and oral candidiasis (HR 1.16, 95% CI 0.70 to 1.94).ConclusionPilocarpine may have no protective effect on dental caries, periodontitis, or oral candidiasis in patients with pSS.
Highlights
Primary Sjögren’s syndrome is one of the most common autoimmune diseases, mainly involving the body’s exocrine glands, especially the salivary glands
If a specialist diagnoses a patient as having Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) (International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9: 7102), a condition classified as a catastrophic illness by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan, they can apply for a catastrophic illness certificate for the patient
The results indicated that the risk of dental caries was not significantly different between the two groups
Summary
Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is one of the most common autoimmune diseases, mainly involving the body’s exocrine glands, especially the salivary glands. Changes in the oral environment lead to an accumulation of oral pathogens, which subsequently causes. Salivary stimulants, such as pilocarpine, are parasympathomimetic drugs that bind to the muscarinic receptors on the exocrine glands and stimulate their secretion. Based on expert opinions, the Sjögren’s Syndrome Foundation recommends that, in order to prevent caries, saliva. We designed this study to investigate whether pilocarpine can prevent dental caries and other oral manifestations in patients with pSS. Pilocarpine, a salivary stimulant, can improve the amount and flow rate of saliva in patients with pSS. This study aimed to assess whether the risk of dental caries decreases with the use of pilocarpine in patients with pSS
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