Medication and oral function

Abstract

Drugs that cause functional and structural disorder to the oral cavity may cause oral hypofunction. It can be divided roughly into the drugs which lower consciousness level and attention, the drugs which cause reduction of the saliva secretion, the drugs which cause motor function failure of the oral cavity, the drugs which cause the taste disorder, the drugs which causes the oral mucositis. For management of drug-induced oral hypofunction, change and reduction of the drug are effective in cooperation with the medical doctor, but there are many cases in which the change is impossible. In addition to the correspondence to the cause drug, it is important to improve and maintain the oral cavity environment. Specific management should be taken for drug-induced taste disorders and oral mucositis caused by anticancer agents. It is important to correctly understand the information of prescribed medicine.