Source: Medscape Today December 28, 2011 — There is not enough evidence to recommend any topical therapies for dry mouth, but that does not mean that they do not work, according to investigators who published a review of research on the therapies online December 4 in the Cochrane Library. "There was very little evidence," said Helen Worthington, PhD, a professor of evidence-based care at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Dr. Worthington and colleagues scoured the literature for randomized controlled trials of topical therapies for dry mouth, or xerostomia. They found 36 studies of treatments such as lozenges, sprays, mouth rinses, gels, oils, chewing gum, and toothpaste. Xerostomia often results from treatments for head and neck cancer that damage the salivary glands, as well as from Sjögren's syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that also damages these glands. It is also a common adverse effect of many medications. The authors cite an estimated prevalence of dry mouth of about 20% in the general population. This percentage may be increasing because people are living longer and suffering from more chronic illnesses for which the treatments can have xerostomia as an adverse effect. It is possible to feel the sensation of dry mouth without having a clinically reduced saliva flow, the researchers point out. The treatments in the review broke down into 2 broad categories: saliva substitutes, in which some other substance is intended to perform the role of the patient's own saliva, and saliva stimulants, which are intended to activate the patient's own [...]