Abstract
Objective: Reduction of salivary gland function with aging is associated with physiological atrophy as a cause of acinary structural alterations. Recently, many studies have demonstrated that aging, age-related diseases, and lifestyle diseases are caused by oxidative stress. Therefore, it is considered that oxidative stress also occurs in salivary gland tissue in the elderly, and influences the function of saliva secretion. The aim of this clinical study was to evaluate the relationship between oxidative stress and dry mouth in the elderly.
Method: Feeling of oral dryness, oral wetness, unstimulated salivary flow rate, salivary amylase, systemic disease, and medication were examined in 27 elderly patients (65-80 years old) and 27 patients in a control group (20-40 years old). Oxidative stress and antioxidant capacity of serum were also measured. Furthermore, risk factors of dry mouth in the elderly were identified.
Results: Dry mouth was present in 33.3% of the elderly group. Oxidative stress in the elderly was significantly higher than in the control, and antioxidant capacity and potentially antioxidant capacity were significantly low. Furthermore, oxidative stress and potentially antioxidant capacity were identified as risk factors for dry mouth in the elderly.
Conclusion: These results suggested that increase in oxidative stress and reduction of potential antioxidant capacity with aging are related to dry mouth in the elderly.kn-abstract=
