Prevalence of Xerostomia among Patients Visiting Private Dental Hospital in Chennai: A Retrospective Study

Introduction: Xerostomia is a dry mouth condition caused by insufficient or absent saliva flow. Xerostomia is not a disorder, but it may be a symptom of a variety of diseases, a side effect of head and neck radiation, or a side effect of a number of drug medications. It may be linked to reduced salivary gland activity or not.

Aim: To assess the prevalence of xerostomia among patients visiting private dental hospitals in chennai.

Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study done in a university setting. Case sheets of patients who were diagnosed with xerostomia n=24 were obtained from DIAS for analysis between June 2019 - February 2021. The data was then collected using SPSS tools for statistical analysis. A comparison was made between xerostomia with age, gender and predisposing factor.

Results: There was a high prevalence of xerostomia in females (83.3%) when compared to males (16.7%) among the patients visiting private dental hospitals. Xerostomia was more prevalent in the age group of 55-65 years (41.6%). Most common reason for xerostomia was found to be drug medications (60.87%) followed by other factors like diabetic mellitus, radiation therapy etc. On comparison of age with the predisposing factor of xerostomia it was found that the age group of 55-65 year were mostly affected with drug medications as the most common reason to induce xerostomia which was found to be a statistically insignificant ( P value =0.151) Similarly on comparison of gender with predisposing factor of xerostomia, it was found that females were found to be most affected with drug medications as the main predisposing factor which was found to be a statistically significant with p =0.037.

Conclusion: Despite the limitations of this study, it can be concluded that oral dryness will continue to be a significant health problem as life expectancy rises. As a result, it's critical to comprehend the pathophysiology of xerostomia, as it may be a contributing factor in any systemic disorder.