Oral Medicine
Impact of dry mouth on oral symptoms and function in removable denture wearers in Japan

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Objective

The purpose of this study was to determine the association of dry mouth with oral symptoms and function, such as denture instability, discomfort, soreness in denture-bearing tissue, and dissatisfaction with chewing, tasting, or speaking in removable denture wearers.

Study design

The subjects were 493 removable denture wearers with a mean age of 67.3 years. Perception of oral dryness was measured by a questionnaire. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the effect of the dry mouth on oral symptoms and function after controlling for age and gender.

Results

Oral dryness during eating was related to dissatisfaction with chewing (odds ratio, 10.5; P < .001) and speaking (odds ratio, 3.5; P < .05) and overall dissatisfaction (odds ratio, 6.3; P < .01) in complete denture wearers. Feeling of dry mouth was likely to be associated with soreness in denture-bearing tissues in both complete and removable partial denture wearers.

Conclusions

There was a significant association of the perception of dry mouth among a group of denture wearers with oral symptoms and function.

Section snippets

Study population

The subjects in this study were participants of the Senior Citizens' College of Osaka prefecture, who attended the program in 1999. The study sample consisted of community-dwelling, independently living elderly people over the age of 60 years, who attended lectures once a week. This college is one of the adult educational systems supported by the government of Osaka prefecture, which enrolls volunteers for a period of 1 year. This course focused not only on health topics but also on other

Results

Overall, 9% of the subjects had noticed a subjective feeling of dry mouth when eating a meal (Table I). The dental status was significantly associated with reports of dryness during eating (P < .05).

In this study, denture wearers who belonged to the CD or the RPD group were used for the analysis. They were 493 people (258 males and 235 females) with an age range of 60 to 88 years and a mean age of 67.3 ± 4.5 (SD) years. Responses to the questions of dry mouth were not significantly related to

Discussion

This study evaluated a convenience sample of older adults living in an urban area and volunteering to participate in a free education program. It is not known how representative of elderly Japanese these individuals are. However, in Japan, most old people (95.5% of those 75 to 79 years, 90.8% of those 80 to 84 years, and 79.1% of those 85 years and over) are functionally independent and have no limitations in their daily activities.31 Therefore, it seems important to know about the oral health

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