Table 4.

Reviews included

Reference	Year	Authors	Journal	Aim	Number of papers reviewed	Qualities and relevance of studies included score
23	1977	Dreizen et al	Postgrad Med	Narrative – To evaluate the main injury of the surrounding tissues during radiotherapy for oral cancer that can have devastating physical and psychological consequences for the patients	13	++
45	1994	Atkinson and Wu	J Am Dent Assoc	Narrative – To evaluate the three most common known causes (medication, radiotherapy, and Sjögren’s syndrome) of salivary gland dysfunction and their clinical management	62	+++
17	1996	Scully and Epstein	Eur J Cancer B Oral Oncol	Narrative – To discuss the etiopathogenesis and current means available for preventing, ameliorating, and treating radiotherapy complications, as well as indicating research directions	282	+++
1	1998	Bivona	N Y State Dent J	Narrative – To evaluate generally physiopathological features and clinical management of Sjögren’s syndrome	16	++
61	2000	Dyke	Int J Pharm Compound	Narrative – To evaluate physiopathological features and clinical management of Sjögren’s syndrome	19	+
18	2000	Sreebny	Int Dent J	Systematic – This paper reviews the role of saliva, the prevalence of oral dryness, and consequent importance of salivary flow as well as the relationship between xerostomia and salivary gland hypofunction among the causes of oral dryness. Other aspects: association between saliva and Sjögren’s syndrome and esophageal function; use of saliva as diagnostic tool	134	+++
47	2002	Pedersen et al	Oral Dis	Narrative – This paper reviews the role of human saliva and its compositional elements in relation to the gastrointestinal functions of taste, mastication, bolus formation, enzymatic digestion, and swallowing	161	+
2	2003	Cassolato and Turnbull	Gerodontology	Narrative – To outline for clinicians the common etiologies, clinical identification, and routine therapeutic modalities available for individuals with xerostomia	86	+++
12	2004	Porter et al	Oral Surg Oral Med Ora Pathol Oral Radiol Endod	Narrative – To create an update of the etiology and management of xerostomia	229	+++
14	2008	Argiris et al	Lancet	Narrative – To review the epidemiology, molecular pathogenesis, diagnosis and staging, and the latest multimodal management of squamous cell carcinoma of the HNC	153	+++
63	2008	Sagar	Curr Treat Options Oncol	Narrative – To describe the effectiveness of acupuncture to control the symptoms of cancer patients, with an evidence-based approach	59	++
55	2010	Ramos-Casals et al	JAMA	Systematic – To summarize evidence on primary Sjögren’s syndrome drug therapy from randomized controlled trials	74	+
10	2010	Jensen et al	Support Care Cancer	Systematic – To assess the literature for management strategies and economic impact of salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia induced by cancer therapies and to determine the quality of evidence-based management recommendations	154	+++
10	2010	Jensen et al	Support Care Cancer	Systematic – To assess the literature for prevalence, severity, and impact on quality of life of salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia induced by cancer therapies	203	+++
66	2010	O’Sullivan and Higginson	Acupunct Med	Systematic – To systematically review evidence on clinical effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in irradiation-induced xerostomia in patients with HNC	51	+++
41	2013	Radvansky et al	Am J Health Syst Pharm	Narrative – To evaluate current strategies for preventing and managing radiation-induced dermatitis, mucositis, and xerostomia, with an emphasis on pharmacologic interventions	52	++
67	2013	Zhuang et al	Integr Cancer Ther	Systematic – To evaluate the preventive and therapeutic effect of acupuncture for radiation-induced xerostomia among patients with HNC	46	+++

Notes: +++, high level; ++, medium level; +, low level.

Abbreviation: HNC, head and neck cancer.