Abstract
ObjectivesThe aim of this retrospective data collection study was to determine the effect size of dry mouth on the survival of restorations and teeth. MethodsThe data were collected from the electronic patient files of City of Oulu Public Dental Services (Finland). Study population consisted of 71 dry mouth patients and 142 control patients. The survival of 3208 restorations were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and multivariate Cox regression analysis with shared frailty for patients. Separate analyses were performed for the survival of the teeth. ResultsThe hazard ratio of restorations in dry mouth patients was 2.08 (95% CI: 1.65-2.63) compared to the control patients. For the dry mouth patients, the fixed prosthetic crowns outlasted composite fillings of all sizes, but the difference increased concomitantly with the filling size. The dry mouth patients had hazard ratio of 1.98 (95% CI: 1.02-3.82) for tooth extractions compared to the control patients. The teeth with fixed prosthetic crowns outlasted the teeth with direct restorative materials. ConclusionsThe survival time of restorations and teeth are severely shortened in patients with dry mouth. Especially the survival time of the large composites is short in dry mouth patients whereas fixed prosthetic crowns have acceptable survival time also in dry mouth patients. Clinical significanceWhen informing a dry mouth patient on the expected survival of a restoration or tooth, one should take into account that dry mouth patients´ restorations and teeth have severely shortened survival time.
Highlights
Dry mouth is a common health issue found in 22% of adults [1]
Clinical significance: When informing a dry mouth patient on the expected survival of a restoration or tooth, one should take into account that dry mouth patientsrestorations and teeth have severely shortened survival time
Sjogrens syndrome and radiotherapy to neck or head region were registered as etiological factors of dry mouth in 22.5% and 9.9% of cases whereas xerostomia and hyposalivation with un specified etiology were registered for 36.6% and 31.0% of cases
Summary
Dry mouth is a common health issue found in 22% of adults [1]. Dry mouth includes both xerostomia (sensation of oral dryness) and hypo salivation (pathologically lowered salivary flow rate). International diagnostic criterion states that 0.1 ml/min of unstimulated saliva is the cut-off point for hyposalivation [2]. Caries and xerostomia are common among patients with hyposalivation, xerostomia and hypo salivation occur independently [3,4]. Already patients with unstimulated salivary flow rate below 0.2 ml/min have elevated prevalence of caries and xerostomia [3,5,6]. Age above 50 years and female sex are associated with dry mouth [8,9]
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