Dry Mouth and Halitosis Management

Park, Moon-Soo

J Korean Dent Assoc > Volume 58(12); 2020 > Article

The Journal of The Korean Dental Association 2020;58(12):751-759.
Published online November 30, 2020.

구강건조증 및 구취의 관리

박문수

강릉원주대학교 치과대학 구강내과진단학교실

Dry Mouth and Halitosis Management

Moon-Soo Park

Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnosis, College of Dentistry, Gangneung-Wonju National University

Correspondence: Moon-Soo Park, Tel: +82-33-640-2466, Fax: 82-33-640-3129,
Email: mpark@gwnu.ac.kr

Abstract

It is obvious that our society is aging and the number of patients with dry mouth will increase in the future. In my opinion, if the dentists working at the local dental clinic pay a little more attention to these patients, they can perform a simple medical history check and the measurement of saliva secretion rate, and may make a clinical diagnosis for dry mouth. Dry mouth patients related to systemic diseases (especially Sjögren's syndrome) and to drug use need to be referred to a physician, and sialogogue for responders and artificial saliva for non-responders should be consid-ered preferentially. We should pay attention to dry mouth-related diseases such as halitosis, and halitosis can be effectively treated by improving oral hygiene including tongue brushing and using gargle solution. Aging cannot be avoided. Now is the time for all dentists to pay attention to the dry mouth that elderly patients may be experiencing.

Key Words: dry mouth; sialogogue; artificial saliva; halitosis